Michael Hendrix — who officially announced his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Texas House seat 105 in the July 25 issue of Dallas Voice and then kicked the campaign off with a rally Saturday night, Aug. 9, in Irving — has issued a statement saying that following the rally on Saturday he was admitted to a local hospital “for observation and ongoing evaluation.”
He said in the statement he is in stable condition, “receiving excellent care” and “in regular contact with my family, friends and campaign team for following updates.”
Hendrix had, within the previous 12 months, posted on social media that he had been diagnosed with and was being treated for cancer. In announcing his campaign in July, Hendrix told Dallas Voice his health issues were under control and that his doctors had cleared him to campaign for office. Shortly after the announcement article was published, Hendrix posted on social media that he had been taken to the ER for a injury to his foot, and that he was temporarily pausing his campaign while dealing with the injury.
In his statement today, Hendrix declined to “provide additional personal health details at this time,” but pledged that he is “still in this fight. This campaign is about making our state safer, stronger and more equitable for the people who call it home, and I will not let anything stop me from working toward that vision.”
Hendrix’s Saturday rally and his hospitalization came in the wake of criticisms aimed at him since he announced his campaign. In his written statement, he said, In times like these, it’s easy for some to focus on division, distort the truth or spread negativity. But that’s not who we are, and that’s not what this campaign is about.”
Democratic National Committeeman Jeff Strater and Oak Lawn bar owner and community activist Lee Daugherty have both used social media to, first of all, criticize Hendrix for attacking the record of a sitting Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Terry Meza, who has been an ally to the LGBTQ community.
These two activists and others also pointed to Hendrix’s background which, they say includes working for right-wing Republicans who routinely targeted the LGBTQ community, such as Michelle Bachmann and Newt Gingrich.
While Hendrix told Dallas Voice he began working with Democratic campaigns in his early 20s and before — saying that he had, as a teenager, helped recruit Americans abroad to vote for Bill Clinton in 1992 — Strater pointed to reports by Softpedia in 2012 that Hendrix, then 32, was helping Bachmann campaign via the Facebook game “Farmville.”
And in February 2012, Slate.com reported about how Hendrix — then working as an online marketer and who had, just two months before, had started Red Digital Media “with the goal of developing software that could help Republican candidates” — left Texas and headed to Florida with a team of technologists to help Newt Gingrich’s campaign had not asked him for help and that the campaign had, in fact, never even answered Hendrix’s offers to help.
The Slate.com article also described Hendrix as “a Republican who had volunteered on various campaigns over the years” and who had been “radicalized” in the debate over the Online Piracy Act. The article said Hendrix and his team went to Florida the week before that state’s 2012 primary to “put their technology to work for Newt Gingrich, whether [Gingrich] liked it or not.”
At the time that he announced his campaign in Dallas Voice, Hendrix was engaged to his partner of several years, the Rev. Neil Thomas, senior pastor of Cathedral of Hope UCC. On Aug. 1, the Cathedral’s Board of Stewards issued a statement saying the board was “actively engaged in responding to and investigating concerns surrounding the potential unauthorized acquisition and use of church-owned member data by a candidate and his campaign.
“Several church members have expressed displeasure with receiving unsolicited emails for campaign events and donations,” the board’s statement said. “The board is investigating the source of the congregant email addresses used by the campaign to determine whether church data privacy protocols were breached.”
Stressing that the church does not endorse either candidates or campaigns, the board’s statement noted that “The inappropriate association between the candidate and the church’s senior pastor was immediately highlighted” to Thomas, who apologized the board “for the confusion this has caused,” saying he would explicitly state that his support for any campaign is solely in his individual capacity and not as senior pastor of Cathedral of Hope.”
Late last week, Thomas posted a statement on his personal Facebook page saying that he had ended his relationship with Hendrix. He wrote: “I have recently ended my relationship and am no longer communicating with my ex partner, nor are we affiliated in any personal or professional capacity. Thank you for your prayers and privacy at this time.”
Strater and Daugherty, along with Jay Narey and Cannon Brown, speaking as former Stonewall Democrats presidents, on Sunday, Aug. 10, issued a joint statement speaking “as one voice to oppose the candidacy of Mike Hendrix for Texas House District 105.”
The four Democratic activists said that Hendrix, working as a lobbyist in the Texas Legislature in 2023, facilitated the passage of Senate Bill 12, known as The Drag Ban bill. They also note that Hendrix ran for seat in the Texas House in Austin, coming in sixth out of a field of seven candidates.
“… and now. he’s swooped into a Dallas County-based district, leaning on his now-ex fiancé, without whom he’d have had no credibility. In the process he betrayed his former partner and hurt untold numbers of others in matters that have been covered elsewhere — raising serious ethical questions about the methods he’s willing to employ, and who he’s willing to hurt in pursuit of political office.
“This is not the leadership that District 105 needs. Our community deserves leaders with integrity, a clear track record of service and a commitment to advancing — not exploiting — progressive causes,” the former Stonewall presidents’ letter continued. “We agree with those who say that Mike has all the hallmarks of a grifter and so for all of these reasons and many more than will be brought to light in the community days, WE STAND UNITED IN SAYING NO TO MIKE HENDRIX. His actions have repeatedly put the LGBTQ+ community and our allies at risk. We believe his candidacy is wrong for Dallas County and wrong for Texas.”
— Tammye Nash
Good article. Now, in keeping with journalistic standards and in keeping with the Dallas Voice’s history of hit pieces in pastors of CoH… it’s high time that you write a piece purely on Neil and how foolish he is for bringing a LITERAL wolf into the flock at CoH, how he either gave or allowed access to CoH membership and donor information and how Neil only came forward with his apology when FORCED by the board of CoH to do so.
I’ve known Neil since his time here in Los Angeles. I don’t think he knowingly knew what a POS Hendrix is. It’s not like Neil to suddenly allow anyone access to confidential information. I just think Hendrix is an opportunistic and carpetbagging cloutf***er and backstabber.
Sure. We will just take your word for it. Some would rather have a full investigation, not by his friend from LA, not internally by CoH investigating itself, but in the open where facts can stand in the light of day. Neil and Mike used the Dallas Voice to launch Mike without the Voice investigating even the simplest facts. It was a pure con job with the assistance of ineffectual journalism. It leveraged CoH’s good name to Neil & Mike’s advantage. It is doubtful that throughout the duration of Hendrix using Neil to leverage Neil’s own name and the name of CoH that over and over and over there were not voices of reason with facts being presented to Neil. Yet he gave over, or at minimum allowed access to CoH’s member and donor data. Even after Mike using the mailing list for the wedding announcements and campaign, Neil ONLY spoke up when forced by the Board of CoH to do so. That is not leadership. This deserves to be investigated and not merely swept under the rug because of a friend from LA saying Neil is blameless. Someday the truth will prevail and it won’t be dissuaded by some guy from LA or cancer, or a broken foot, or some unnamed illness that Mike supposedly and conveniently has. What is going on with Neil? Is he equipped to be Sr pastor with this level of foolishness, obscuration and ineptitude?
Fine, go to CoH and tell Neil yourself. At least I’m using my real name. I’m willing to speak as myself and not under some pseudonym.
As you can see, I’m not a fan of Mike’s. If I am, why do I call him a “cloutf***er”? (BTW, I am not saying the exact word in case it’s not allowed here.) You do realize Neil and Mike were never one unit, right? In some relationships, there is one nice and one a-hole person. Of course, they don’t last. And, in this case, we all know what type Mike is.
I’m going to keep defending Neil. And, I’m not ashamed of it. If the investigations find out he did wrong (which I highly doubt), then I will admit that I was wrong. Will you do the same if you’re proven wrong?
And, if you don’t think Neil should be Sr. Pastor, then don’t go. There are many other places of faith to go to. I may not live in Texas, but even know there are a lot of churches there.
How about you get your facts straight before you drag a good, Gof fearing man through the mud. You are so busy trying to hang that piece of trash Hendrix you lump everyone into one big ball of deceit.