Texans emerged on the other side of the Republican primary runoffs with some wins worth celebrating. But the overall picture is troubling.
State House Speaker Dade Phelan, who led his chamber to impeach Ken Paxton, survived a challenge from a political newcomer seeking to avenge our ethical mess of an attorney general. While Phelan prevailed by only 366 votes, David Covey conceded the race. That is a relief in a day and age when distrust in American elections has become central to the GOP’s identity.
In congressional races, state lawmaker Craig Goldman’s more moderate message won over voters deciding the nominee for Rep. Kay Granger’s seat. And Rep. Tony Gonzales fended off a challenge from a pro-gun rights YouTube influencer.
A group of staunchly conservative state House representatives, however, lost their seats for crossing Gov. Greg Abbott on school vouchers, while a handful were made to pay for supporting the Paxton impeachment. These are party members who went along with just about every issue except one.
That is the cost of being an elected official in the Texas GOP today. The governor and the state party apparatus demand ideological purity — matters of conscience and constituents’ wishes aside.
Redirecting tax money to pay for private schooling is a policy matter that deserves debate, particularly as it might help low-income families stuck in under-performing public schools. But Texans are in trouble once their elected representatives are targeted and expelled from office for thinking independently or for representing the will of a broad base of their constituents. That means that vital policy matters such as how to pay for our kids’ education will be decided based on fear, and by a narrow band of the electorate, not on the merits of the policies themselves.
The Republican Party of Texas had a chance to repudiate this backwards absolutism, to reject the divisive politics of former party chair Matt Rinaldi. Under his leadership, the party cozied up to the likes of antisemite Nick Fuentes and to billionaire donors Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, whose goal is to tilt Texas to the far right.
Instead of changing course and opening the tent to more Texans, the state GOP doubled down and elected Rinaldi’s hand-picked successor, Abraham George, as party chair. His rhetoric is yet another serving of the same tired tropes of the far right. It’s the kind of stuff that certain primary voters eat up but that most Texans, and many conservatives, find nauseating.
At its convention over the weekend, the party embraced a ban on candidates who have been censured by the party, which now occurs frequently when an official dares to disagree with any of the Texas GOP’s extremist platform. This ban includes judges, even though many conservatives would agree that judges should make decisions based on the law and not their personal politics.
The state party’s proposed platform, presented at a convention last week, includes language that declares abortion is “homicide,” that calls for military bases to restore the names of Confederate “heroes” and that demands the right to use gold and silver as legal tender. We worry about what will emerge after the delegates’ votes are tallied.
The Republican Party of Texas may feel comfortable ratcheting up the extremism in the safety of a red state and in the midst of an unpopular Democratic administration. But the party’s longevity depends on appealing to a growingly diverse electorate. The Texas GOP is sacrificing broad appeal for the gain of an ever-insular inner circle.
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