STANDING IN THE BREACH
in Round Rock, Texas
In July, I won an award from the Texas Republican County Chair Association (TRCCA) for “Standing in the Breach“. This statewide organization has a stellar, 80-year, legacy of training and supporting County Chairs across our great state. They are passionate about Election Integrity and running good elections. It was truly an honor to receive this award and shake the hand of Governor Abbott.
Standing in the Breach Meaning Sadly, in Texas there is an alarming movement to weaponize the Republican Party against Republican candidates. It’s fueled by an elitist mentality and disdain for the Republican voters, who are the true grassroots of our Party. I, and many of our local Republican Precinct Chairs and Elected Officials, are adamantly against this. We are all working together to ensure our Party leadership protects the choice of the voters. Below are some of the latest examples of attempts to weaponize our Party.
KEEPING CANDIDATES OFF THE BALLOT
In 2022, there was a resolution proposed at all three Senatorial District (SD) conventions in Montgomery County to remove the Party’s Chairman race from the ballot. This would mean the Republican voters would not have a choice in their highest-ranking Party Official. The Party Chairman has a major impact on the county for several reasons. Most importantly, the Party Chairman is the person who accepts applications from candidates to be placed on the ballot and submits them to the Secretary of State. The voters should absolutely have a choice in this race. Our county did not agree with this resolution and it failed at all three Montgomery County conventions. Regardless of the will of the local delegates, those pushing the resolution signed up as State Delegates and reintroduced this as a Party Plank. The State Delegates were not given any time to debate the planks and it passed by a narrow margin. Plank 248 which reads:
“We support the election of Republican County Chairs by their respective County Executive Committees where they exist. We support removing the Republican Party of Texas from the Election Code.”
While Plank 248 is awful in its own right, a more nefarious measure made it into the RPT Rules. The rule which has become known as “44B” states that a County Chair can keep a candidate off the ballot if they have been censured for three documented violations of the Republican Principles or Legislative Priorities:
At several recent forums, my opponent has claimed that she does not support Plank 248. However when she was given a recent chance to vote on this very topic at a Freedom Caucus meeting, she did so. You can see the resolution she voted for HERE along with the roster showing her in attendance.
RPT 44.b Any County Chairman who applies the provisions of Section (a)(1) or rejects an application for a place on the ballot under Section (a)(2) and thereby becomes the subject of a lawsuit for doing so shall be indemnified by the Republican Party of Texas, who shall provide counsel to the County Chairman or pay for any expenses incurred related to any suit. The State Party Chairman shall defend in court any suit against the Party arising from the application of Rule No. 44.
There were many of us at the State Convention who knew this provision would be abused and voted against it. After the convention, these same people openly discussed keeping a Republican Sheriff candidate Wesley Doolittle off the ballot (the video can be viewed HERE and the confirmation screenshot below) for attending three Zoom meetings they disagreed with (despite being allowed by RPT Rules). This illustrates how this group would arbitrarily keep a Republican off the ballot and remove the voter’s choice…. if they controlled the Party Chairman’s position.
In Jefferson County they came close to making such a move.
To be clear, as Chairman, I will never keep anyone off the ballot who meets qualifications under the Texas Election Code.
USING PARTY FUNDS TO STEER ELECTIONS
In Montgomery County we have a rule against endorsing one identified Republican against another in a non-partisan race. Many other counties have similar rules. Despite this prohibition, a group that now calls themselves the Freedom Caucus spent Party money in violation of this rule in 2018 and 2023. As shown in the screenshots HERE, a postcard was mailed that endorsed candidates for a water board race (one Republican against another Republican) on one side while featuring the official Montgomery County Republican Party Voter Guide on the other side, noting “Paid for by the Montgomery County Republican Party”. This is an outright betrayal of donor trust. This year, this same group, which now identifies itself as the Freedom Caucus, is spending money raised for Party “get out the vote” efforts to promote their endorsing PACs (Montgomery County Tea Party, Eagle Forum, and Texas Patriots PAC).
SCORING and ENDORSING
I first became aware of an attempt to score Republicans when my 2020 opponent openly discussed the idea of the Party leadership scoring Republicans in the Primary. In other words, the voters couldn’t be trusted to vote for the right candidates and the Party bosses needed to steer your decision. A video of this can be seen HERE. This month, in Medina County, these same kinds of tactics are happening.
ABOLISHING THE PRIMARY
The most egregious voter threat to surface recently came from the State Chair, Matt Rinaldi, who entertained the idea of abolishing the Primary election altogether. Appearing on a podcast episode called “Why Do Texas Republicans Suck?”, Rinaldi indicated that he was favorable to taking away the vote of mainstream Republicans and going to a system that favored the wealthy elites (article HERE).
Horowitz: “…the only way we’re ever going to level the playing field to elect a critical mass of conservatives in one or two election cycles is to do away with popular primaries and have some sort of filtered caucus or convention…”
Rinaldi: “…Yeah, and you’re not gonna do it legislatively… You achieve it the way that Idaho did… They took the federal court and the federal judge in Idaho said, no, the party has the right to free association. They can choose the way that they choose candidates that represent them on the ballot and therefore there should be closed primaries… you could presumably do that with a convention as well, or states like Tennessee, states like Alabama, the party has the ability to deny ballot access to candidates… The party needs to take a more active role in protecting its brand. And it does that by choosing how we elect our candidates who represent us.”
Horowitz: “So you are saying, is this a fight you’re willing to pick and say the party at your convention might be willing to adopt an, an election down the road to start with a a, some sort of modified convention system…”
Rinaldi: “Yeah, I mean, I’m willing, ultimately what I do as chairman is I am the will of the party delegates, right? So that’s a fight they want to pick. I’ll, I’ll be their spokesman certainly…”
CALL TO ACTION – PAY ATTENTION TO PARTY RACES
The structure of our County Party leadership, the County Executive Committee (CEC), was formulated in 1840 by Abraham Lincoln. Its purpose is primarily to run good elections and Get Out The Vote. It has served us well for nearly 200 years.
Will you Stand in the Breach with me? Beginning on February 20, you will have an opportunity to cast your ballot for great Republican candidates. However, there are also Party leadership races on the ballot which must not be ignored. I believe that we should honor the sanctity of the voters and the candidates. Do your research and learn which Precinct Chairs candidates want to focus on growing the Party and which want to align with elitist Freedom Caucus tactics… which will ultimately be the demise of our Republican Party.