Before running for office, Burton was vice president of the NE Tarrant Tea Party.
2014 election In the 2014 elections, Burton was "considered a rock star in Republican circles." In the March 4, 2014 Republican
primary election (and the May 27, 2014 primary
runoff) for the state Senate, Burton was endorsed by
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. In the first round, Burton came in first place among the five-way Republican field, garnering 43% of the vote and advancing to a runoff against former
State Representative Mark M. Shelton, who received 35 percent. In the primary runoff, Burton gained the Republican nomination; Burton received 17,435 votes (60%), while Shelton received 11,515 votes (40%). Burton then defeated the Democratic nominee, Libby Willis, who carried Wendy Davis's support, 95,484 votes (53%) to 80,806 (45%), retaking the Senate seat for the Republicans.
State Senate tenure Burton is a member of the Higher Education, Criminal Justice, Nominations, and Veteran Affairs & Military Installations committees, and serves as vice-chair of the latter committee. During the
2016 Republican presidential primaries, Burton was a staunch supporter of
Ted Cruz.
Abortion Burton is an
opponent of abortion. She supported legislation to defund
Planned Parenthood by cutting off its
Medicaid funds, even for non-abortion general healthcare services. She opposed the
U.S. Supreme Court's decision in ''
Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt'' (which struck down Texas's restrictive abortion law as unconstitutional) saying that she was "extremely disappointed" in the ruling. Burton took office in January 2015 wearing
cowboy boots bearing the phrase "Stand for Life," a fashion statement mirrored after Wendy Davis' choice of pink tennis shoes during 2013's abortion bill filibuster.
Economy Burton barred taxpayer-funded lobbyists (i.e., lobbyists representing governmental entities) from her office, and supported legislation to ban governmental entities from hiring lobbyists. Burton has supported limitations on local control in Texas, saying that the state should "step in" to restrict
municipalities from passing ordinances that regulate issues such as the
phase-out of lightweight plastic bags and
Uber. Burton also opposes local ordinances banning
texting while driving. Burton has introduced legislation in the Senate to abolish
civil asset forfeiture in the state.
Education In November 2016, Burton introduced S.B. 242, which would amend state law to make a parent entitled to all of a school district's written records about their child's "general physical, psychological or emotional well-being" and provide that an attempt by a school employee to conceal or encourage a child to withhold information would be grounds for discipline. Burton introduced the bill in response to
Fort Worth Independent School District guidelines (later rescinded) that sought to protect transgender students from being "
outed" to their parents. The bill was condemned by
LGBT advocates such as
Equality Texas, which issued a statement saying that "the legislation would essentially destroy protected communications between a student and an educator. The bill was also opposed by the Texas State Teachers Association and educators' groups, who said that the bill could harm trust between teachers and students and potentially force teachers to share "unsubstantiated rumors" with parents. Additionally, Burton herself has stressed on numerous occasions that the words "sexuality" and "gender" are not listed in the bill. Instead, the bill would require the release of written documentation of a students "general physical, psychological or emotional well-being", which many people believe is a parental right and therefore cannot be circumvented by local school districts. Burton countered in an open letter posted on her official webpage that Whitley was " … was uninformed at best and willfully misleading at worst."
2018 re-election bid Burton lost her bid for reelection in the general election held on November 6, 2018, to Democratic nominee
Beverly Powell, a businesswoman and a former president of the
Burleson Independent School District school board who carried the endorsement of the
Dallas Morning News. Powell unseated Burton, 148,544 (51.7 percent) to 138,695 (48.3 percent). ==Later career==