Texas salon owner, jailed for defying coronavirus shutdown, running for state Senate
'People should be able to make decisions for themselves,' Shelley Luther tells 'Fox & Friends Weekend'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Texas salon owner jailed for defying coronavirus lockdown orders is running for a state Senate seat.
Shelley Luther, owner of Salon a La Mode in Dallas, opposes Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's statewide mask mandate, calling it "ridiculous."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I feel like if a business owner wants to require a mask to come in, then that's their right," Luther said Saturday on "Fox & Friends Weekend".
Her salon, which requires clients to wear masks because of the face-to-face nature of the business, but Luther believes it should be the right of a business owner to make that decision. She was jailed for less than 48 hours for opening her business during the lockdown in May.
"People should be able to make decisions for themselves," she said. "There needs to be a special [legislative] session called and this needs to be discussed with other people who can create laws for this. Not just be a king or will turn into a communist state, and we can't do that."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I've had thousands of people reach out to me. I think people are really yearning for a real person in government," she told co-host Will Cain about her decision to run for office.
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Luther said she would have supported a temporary shutdown, 30 days at most, and afterward determine "what is safe enough to go out or in."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After the temporary shutdown, she said, "If people want to take the chance to go somewhere [without a mask], that is absolutely their right to do so."
Luther defended her actions in May, noting that other businesses around her were open and thriving while her salon had to remain closed.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Her punishment became a rallying cry for some Republican lawmakers and conservative activists who railed against lockdown measures in Texas, even as the state reopened more quickly than many others.
Luther said she received praise and donations from several people and appreciated recognition from President Trump, and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who visited Luther's salon to show support. She is running for a vacant seat in the state's 30th Senate District that has drawn a number of candidates.