Kyle councilmember resigns, citing 'harassment and dehumanization'

A Kyle city council member is resigning citing a "campaign of harassment and dehumanization" for the past 11 months.

Claudia Zapata, the District 3 at-large representative, was elected in November to a three-year term. On Friday, she resigned that seat, a decision she said "has not been made easily and carries enormous grief."

What they're saying:

"However, for the past 11 months, I have been the target of a sustained campaign of harassment and dehumanization," Zapata said. "I refuse to keep pretending that any of it is ordinary disagreement or the unfortunate price of public office."

Zapata said the harassment was mostly coming from Facebook groups about politics in Kyle and including "racist, homophobic, fatphobic and sexist comments, conspiracy theories, and degrading AI images and threats."

Zapata said the "boundary between these Facebook groups and City Hall disappeared" and even though the people targeting her were in the council chamber she "remained committed to my duty to serve them."

"As much as I love Kyle, I cannot continue to absorb abuse in order to serve it," Zapata said. "So I leave Kyle City Council with grief, anger, tremendous disappointment, but also with pride in the positive work we’ve done together despite the hate we’ve faced. I am grateful to every resident who trusted me, challenged me honestly, worked beside me, or reminded me that the ugliest voices were never the entirety of this community."