Battle brews at GOP meeting
As state convention begins, Republicans disagree on identity
SAN ANTONIO — Republicans are conjuring the specters of Darth Vader and Revolutionary War traitor Benedict Arnold in preparation for their statewide convention in San Antonio, revealing why many party members see the next three days as another pivotal chapter in the civil war within the party.
Republicans dominate state politics, hold an iron grip on every statewide elected office and have complete control of the Texas Legislature, which has produced some of the most conservative laws in the nation. Yet, the party is far from at peace with itself.
On one side are Republicans who worry the party is spending too much time on party purity tests and wasting energy going after fellow Texas Republicans instead of training their fire on the true enemy: the Democrats.
“We’ve got to the point where there is so much vitriolic brother against brother in the same party,” said Cindy Asche, who is running to become the chair of the Republican Party of Texas, a race that will be decided during the convention.
Asche said with state’s diversity growing, Republican disunity risks sending potential GOP members toward the Democratic party.
On the other side are tea party-rooted activists, who say the party is still filled with
too many Republican elected officials who do not adhere enough to the party’s platform by blocking legislation, like the so-called bathroom bill, that the activists say they want.
That wing believes they have had some big victories, such as publicly censuring Texas House Speaker Joe Straus — a lifelong Republican from San Antonio. Party activists accused Straus of blocking the party’s priorities when only half of Abbott’s priority bills made it through the House, particularly a law requiring people to use the bathroom for the gender listed on their birth certificate.
Conservatives are convinced the more moderate wing is planning a counterattack this week to take out their ability to censure more Republican officials who run crosswise with them.
“This is one of the last chances for the empire to strike back,” said Dale Huls, a tea party Republican from Clear Lake, referring to the so-called establishment wing that he says is fighting grass-roots activists to control the party rules. “We blew up the Death Star, and Joe Straus is gone.”
Huls said if his side loses, the voice of the grass roots could be “stifled,” like it once was before.
‘Benedict Dickey’
The party chair’s race shows the divisions. Opponents of the current Republican Party of Texas leadership are firing back. A group calling itself Texas Conservatives For Liberty And Freedom is using Facebook to accuse the current party chair, James Dickey, of adding to the party divisions and being disloyal to President Donald Trump — something Dickey denies.
To make the point, conservatives call the chairman “Benedict Dickey,” a reference to Benedict Arnold, the major general in the Continental Army who defected to the British in 1780.
The fight comes on the heels of a Republican primary season in which factions within the GOP have been battling around the state.
Look no further than west Houston, where Gov. Greg Abbott broke from party tradition and actively campaigned to unseat state Rep. Sarah Davis, a fellow Republican. She has publicly said she agrees with Abbott on most issues, but Abbott considered her not conservative enough.
Abbott also targeted state Rep. Lyle Larson, a San Antonio Republican. But in both cases, Abbott’s money, campaign ads and support were not enough, and both incumbents won.
On the other side, the Associated Republicans of Texas joined the battle more aggressively than they have in the past to defend “pro-business, conservative candidates” like Republican Steve Allison. He beat back a challenge from Matt Beebe to win the GOP nomination to replace Straus.
Straus also fought back, pouring $1 million into primary campaigns.
Changes to censure rule
The civil war within the Republican Party is real, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor.
“And it will continue until one wing gets large enough they can purge the other,” he added.
Rottinghaus said Democrats went through a similar struggle over 30 years when factions battled from the 1940s until the 1970s.
He said eventually more conservative Democrats leaked out of the party and joined the Republican Party as it ascended in power.
That’s Asche’s worry. While campaigning for chair, she’s been sounding the alarm that the internal fights have become too vitriolic and benefit Democrats.
“If we fail to unite, we are doomed,” Asche said.
Dickey, the chair since 2017, has argued that efforts to unite the party are already underway with his leadership.
Beyond the vote for chair, party leaders will be debating party rules that are just as much a part of the battle. Asche and others have argued the party’s platform, which is 26 pages long with more than 260 items, is too long and adding to the party’s civil war.
Specifically, there is an effort to end Rule 44, which allows Republicans to censure other Republicans for taking three or more actions in “opposition to the core principles of the Republican Party of Texas.”
Straus’s censure has been a flashpoint. Even after Straus announced he was not seeking another term in office, efforts to censure him continued. Asche said there was no benefit to censuring Straus when he was already leaving, and she holds Dickey responsible.
Dickey said that after the vote in January, it was a difficult decision to make, but one that benefited of the party.
“This is us being committed to supporting the convention, the delegates, Republican voters across Texas in unifying our party to move forward,” he said after the vote in January.
Wrong message?
Huls said the censure vote was important because it sent a message to other elected officials that they will be held accountable.
“We in the grass roots wanted to go out and send a message,” Huls said.
But it could be the wrong message for some.
“The message it sent across the state is that if you’re not our kind of Republican, you don’t have a place in this party,” Asche said.
Beyond picking a new chair and setting party rules, the three-day convention also gives Republicans in office a platform to address the most dedicated GOP activists.
Abbott and Sens Ted Cruz and John Cornyn are among more than a dozen speakers expected to address the convention.