Texas had some wins worth celebrating in its Republican primary runoff elections, but the overall picture is alarming.
State Assembly Speaker Dade Phelan led the impeachment effort against Ken Paxton in Congress, but survived a challenge from a political novice seeking revenge against the ethically questionable attorney general. Phelan won by just 366 votes, but David Covey conceded defeat, which should come as a relief at a time when distrust in American elections has become central to the Republican Party’s identity.
In congressional races, state Rep. Craig Goldman’s moderate message won voters over who would run for Rep. Kay Granger’s seat, while Rep. Tony Gonzalez fended off a challenge from a pro-gun control YouTube mogul.
But a group of staunchly conservative state legislators lost their seats for opposing Gov. Greg Abbott on school vouchers, and a handful were fined for supporting Paxton’s impeachment — members of a party that voted for nearly every issue except for one.
That’s the price of being an elected official in the Texas Republican Party today: The governor and the state party organization demand purity of ideology, setting aside conscience and the wishes of voters.
“Adding tax dollars to private school funding is a policy issue worth discussing, especially since it may help low-income families who attend low-performing public schools. But Texans are in trouble if their elected officials are targeted and removed from office for holding their own or representing the will of a broad range of voters. This means that important policy issues, like how to pay for our children’s education, will be decided by a narrow electorate, based on fear, not on the merits of the policy itself.”
The Texas Republican Party had a chance to reject this outdated absolutism and the divisive politics of former party leader Matt Rinaldi, under whose leadership the party had grown close to figures like anti-Semitic Nick Fuentes and billionaire donors Tim Dunn and Farris Wilkes, whose goal was to shift Texas to the far right.
Instead of changing course and opening up to more Texans, the state GOP played hardball by electing Rinaldi’s handpicked successor, Abraham George, as party leader, whose rhetoric has reverted to well-worn far-right tropes that are acceptable to some primary voters but tiresome to most Texans, including many conservatives.
At its convention over the weekend, the party adopted a ban on running for candidates who have been denounced by the party, which now happens all too often when members dare to disagree with the Texas GOP’s radical policies. The ban also includes judges, but most conservatives would agree that judges should make decisions based on the law, not personal politics.
The state party’s proposed platform, released at last week’s convention, includes language declaring abortion “murder,” calling for the restoration of names of Confederate “heroes” on military bases and demanding the right to use gold and silver as legal tender. We worry about what will come out after the delegate votes are counted.
Texas Republicans may be comfortable becoming more extremist in the safe environment of a Republican state and in the midst of an unpopular Democratic administration, but their survival depends on appealing to an increasingly diverse electorate, and they are sacrificing broad support for an increasingly insular circle of supporters.
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