Texas GOP rally slams violence at U.S. Capitol
Leaders continue to claim fraud in presidential, Senate elections at event aimed at pushing Legislature to act on Republican priorities
AUSTIN — Just days after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, resulting in the deaths of a police officer and four others, the Republican Party of Texas held its own rally near the Texas Capitol to condemn violence.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” Republican Party of Texas chairman Allen West warned the crowd, just as the rally was starting Saturday. “If you’re here to cause any chaos, any disruption, any kind of disturbance, leave now.”
While the hundreds of people clad in bright red Make America Great Again hats, with many waving blue Trump flags, gathered near the Texas Capitol to talk about the Legislature’s upcoming session beginning Tuesday, the events of Wednesday were on the minds of many speakers who spoke against violence.
“Those that want to get their word out with violence and destroying property and shooting and killing and burning are not righteous people,” state Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, told the crowd. “That is not us.”
Beaumont Republican Chris Breaux, a member of the state party’s executive committee, declared that those who stormed the U.S. Capitol were “knuckleheads.”
But while party officials decried the violence, there was no hesitation in continuing to declare that the presidential and U.S. Senate races in Georgia were lost by election fraud, though no credible cases have been proved by the president’s campaign or Republicans around the nation. Many have pointed to Republicans fueling the anger of extremists as one of the reasons the crowd in Washington stormed the Capitol.
“Did you know that we lost two Senate seats in Georgia probably because of fraud,” Breaux asked the crowd. “Did you know Donald Trump probably had a blowout and we lost the presidency because of fraud?”
Breaux got loud responses of yes from the crowd to both questions and told them to channel their anger toward lobbying state lawmakers.
A heavy police presence of state troopers and National Guard soldiers surrounded the Texas Capitol grounds for the rally, designed to put pressure on the Legislature to act on Republican priorities. The rally also included frequent jabs at Gov. Greg Abbott, accused of not doing anything to protest the alleged fraud.
Former state Sen. Don Huffines, a Dallas-area Republican, fired up the crowd by saying “King Greg” isn’t doing enough to fight election fraud in Texas.
“Has he done anything to secure our elections? No,” said Huffines, who lost his re-election in 2018 to current state Sen. Nathan Johnson.
Abbott has signed legislation to increase penalties for voter fraud, and it was his appointed secretary of state who began efforts to purge thousands of Texans from the state voter rolls before the 2020 elections under a false assumption they were not legal citizens.
Later during Saturday’s rally, speakers blasted the governor for instituting mask restrictions and for a general “executive overreach” in his attempts to control the spread of the coronavirus. Few in the crowd of hundreds wore masks or followed social distancing guidelines.
The attacks on Abbott are no surprise given the tone of West and the Republican Party of Texas since the summer, when the chairman joined a lawsuit against Abbott’s decision to extend early voting as a response to COVID-19. In October, West led a “Free Texas” demonstration outside the Governor’s Mansion, blasting Abbott’s coronavirus restrictions.
Other priorities listed by party leaders included banning all abortions, allowing full open carry of guns, expanding school choice to include private school vouchers and protecting monuments such as a Confederate monument a few hundred feet away on the state Capitol grounds.
West said the purpose of the rally was tomake sure the Legislature knows the Republican Party of Texas isn’t going to stay quiet.
“We are here today to embolden and encourage our representatives, especially for the great state of Texas,” West said.