Texas Republican convention shows ultraconservative flank still controls the party

SAN ANTONIO — The Texas Republican Party, which assembled inside the sprawling convention hall a few blocks from the Alamo as much of the state was observing Memorial Day weekend, showcased its internal differences even as it continued its rapid-fire assault on Democrats six months before Election Day 2024.

"I made a big decision in January of this year," Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller told the cheering delegates Saturday as the three-day Texas State Republican Convention was heading into its final hours. "I announced that I was declaring open season on RINOs with no bag limits."

Miller, an irrepressible conservative who likes to bill himself as "Donald Trump's man in Texas," was referring to that strain of the GOP faithful that has been castigated as "Republicans In Name Only" because of a willingness to sometimes seek common ground with Texas' minority party.

His remarks, which were presaged by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton, came in the final weekend before Tuesday's runoffs, in which several Republican members of the state House — including Speaker Dade Phelan, who in the minds of many of the delegates and some of the GOP officeholders is Texas' RINO-in-chief — are fighting for their political lives in the face of challengers backed by deep-pocket conservative donors and an army of activists from the party's right flank.

That right flank emerged as the dominant force among the almost 10,000 delegates and alternates who chose to spend at least the first part of their holiday weekend shaping the future of the Texas Republican Party, which has held unchecked power in the state for more than two decades.

After a whirlwind day of largely behind-the-scenes wrangling among delegates grouped by the 31 state Senate districts, it took two ballots for the convention to settle on a chairman to lead the party over the next two years and into the coming campaign, where it hopes to keep the state in Donald Trump's column in the presidential race and to propel U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz to a third term in Washington.

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Delegates by a narrow margin selected firebrand conservative Abraham George, an activist and former Collin County GOP chair who had the backing of Paxton and outgoing chairman Matt Rinaldi. George fended off five challengers, including Vice Chairwoman Dana Myers on the final ballot. Myers, a former Harris County GOP chair, was a Rinaldi critic who said the former chairman had mired the party in "a state of disarray, fractured by internal divisions and marred by turmoil."

In defeat, Myers offered an olive branch, posting her congratulations on X and ending with "Back to work!"

Less conciliatory was Travis County GOP Chairman Matt Mackowiak, a late entry to the state chairmanship contest, who opened his campaign with withering criticism of Rinaldi's leadership and a deep wariness of what George's tenure would bring.

Mackowiak, who finished last in the balloting, warned that the party's finances were in ruinous shape and in his concession statement called George "wholly unacceptable as party chair.”

According to his online biography, George was 16 when he and his family came to the United States from India. He became a Republican activist during the 2008 election cycle. His campaign website amplified his conservative positions on issues that divide Republicans from Democrats.

"Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Critical Race Theory are really reverse racism and part of the fundamental principles of socialism," one section says.

In a statement to the convention Saturday, George steered clear of party divisions.

"We currently have only one goal, and that is getting Donald J. Trump and Ted Cruz and every single person on our ballot elected in November," George said.

Speaking with reporters on the convention's second day, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was asked if he was worried about the financial health of the Texas GOP heading into the fall campaign.

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"I am," said Cornyn, who is not on the ballot this cycle. "That probably won't have a direct impact on President Trump or Ted Cruz because they both are going to be well-financed. But I do worry that some of the basics, like voter registration and voter identification, (are) going to have to be done by the candidates because the party is not in a position to do it financially. So that concerns me."

While Cornyn and Gov. Greg Abbott, who addressed the delegates remotely, each sought to play down the intraparty divisions, the only high-profile non-Texas Republican officeholder to speak in San Antonio thrust them front and center.

"You've got a RINO House speaker problem, and I've got a little experience dealing with that particular dynamic," said U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, referencing his own part in ousting fellow Republican Kevin McCarthy as U.S. House speaker last year.

Cruz, who is expecting a well-financed challenge from Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred in the general election campaign, kept his speech Saturday focused on his race and on that of Trump vs. President Joe Biden, a topic that appeared to unite all of the conventiongoers in San Antonio.

"I've got to tell you, they have put a bull's-eye on the state of Texas," Cruz said of national Democrats. "Chuck Schumer (the Senate's Democratic leader) has been explicit on his No. 1 target in the country. They are coming after this state, and our biggest challenge, frankly, is complacency.

"If you're a hardcore, partisan Democrat, after Donald Trump," Cruz added, "there is nobody on the planet you want to beat more than me."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Republicans still control state politics. Can they unite in 2024?