Top elected Republican leaders urge unity during Day 2 of Texas GOP Convention

SAN ANTONIO — The delegates to the Texas Republican Convention on Friday spent much of the gathering's second day tending to the sausage-making processes of partisan politics, haggling over party rules and related matters ahead of the homestretch of the 2024 election cycle.

As that was playing out in the main hall of the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center along part of San Antonio's Riverwalk, the party's most senior officeholders sought to present a theme of unity as they prepare to battle Democrats in the November general election.

"What my message was, we've had some pretty rough primaries and rough contests here for (Texas House) leadership, and the most important thing we can do after Tuesday is to unify because fellow Republicans are not the enemy," U.S. Sen. John Cornyn told reporters outside of the convention hall after spending the morning meeting privately with delegates from around Texas.

"Our political adversaries are the Democrats, and that's what we need to unify," he added.

Unlike a national political convention that is heavily staged and managed to maximize television coverage, the Texas GOP assembly showed the give-and-take that the nearly 10,000 delegates and alternates go through to adopt the party's platform and pick the leader of the party's apparatus to mobilize foot soldiers at the grassroots level needed to win elections.

One of the protracted debates was whether to update the rule requiring the party chair to be of one gender and the vice chair of the other. Delegates haggled over whether an amendment was needed to state that the chair and the vice chair must be selected on the sex assigned at birth. The convention decided such an amendment was not needed by the Texas GOP.

Gov. Greg Abbott addressed the convention virtually. He was on the campaign trail in North Texas campaigning for Republican state House candidate Katrina Pierson, a former aide to Donald Trump who is aiming to unseat Republican incumbent Rep. Justin Holland, who opposed Abbott's push to establish a school voucher system.

Abbott, while praising Pierson, used his address to hammer Democratic President Joe Biden, especially on the twin issues of immigration and border security and to tout his own efforts in South Texas.

"Texas has done more than any state ever to secure the border," Abbott said. "When Biden used a 50-acre park in Eagle Pass as the epicenter of this crisis, there were over 5,000 illegal border crossings a day. Since I ordered the Texas National Guard to take over the park, there are now less than three illegal crossings per day, and those that cross are arrested by DPS."

With the intraparty struggles in the Texas House over school choice and the impeachment inquiry against Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, Cornyn's remark Friday about House "leadership" battles was an indirect reference to Speaker Dade Phelan's runoff, which will be decided Tuesday. The state's senior U.S. senator did not indicate a preference in the race between Phelan and challenger David Covey, an oil and gas consultant who is being backed by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Paxton.

Asked if Republicans are facing a real challenge in Texas, which for the past two decades has been the nation's most reliable red state, Cornyn replied in the affirmative.

"Well, I think yes. I hope all of this gets resolved in a way that everybody settles things down and people accept the outcome Tuesday," said Cornyn, who did not address the full convention. "But I always worry when you have Republican-on-Republican violence. But again, the message is once the primary is over, if people come together and accept the result, then we'll be stronger."

It remained unclear as of Friday afternoon whom the convention would elect as its Republican Party chairman for the next two years. Delegates spend the morning and part of the afternoon meeting in caucuses formed by the state's 31 Senate districts in which each could decide on a nominee. Early indications pointed to no candidate emerging with majority support, meaning the election would be decided after a floor debate.

The convention started Thursday when the dominant theme was to ensure that Texas remains in Trump's column in the presidential race. The gathering is scheduled to end Saturday, when U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who is bracing for an aggressive reelection campaign against U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, in November, will take the stage.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Abbott, Cornyn call for Republican Party unity at State Convention