CONVENTION

Texas GOP to reconsider their position” to hold the event in person.

Last week, the Texas Republican Party’s executive committee voted by a 2-to-1 margin to carry on with an in-person convention, despite concerns raised by local officials and some party members about a local spike in COVID cases.

The Texas Medical Association, a nonprofit medical society of about 53,000 physicians and students, and the Texas Craft Brewers Guild both pulled their sponsorships following the vote. Turner on Monday called on other convention sponsors to urge the Texas GOP to cancel the event.

Party officials already have said they will use thermal scanners to check people’s temperature at entryways and conduct deep cleanings between meetings, among other safety precautions. Texas GOP Chairman James Dickey also has said attendees will be required to follow Gov. Greg Abbott’s order requiring Texans to wear masks in most public settings, though the executive committee last week voted down an amendment requiring face coverings, creating some uncertainty about the party’s intent to comply.

In a podcast published by the Texas GOP Monday, Dickey said the convention would be “many, many times safer than the tens of thousands of people who just weeks ago marched through the streets of Houston,” a reference to the June 2 protest following George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. An estimated 60,000 people, including Turner, attended the outdoor event.

Though Turner has now called for the Texas Republican Party to call off the convention on at least two separate occasions, he has not stepped in and canceled the event himself. Last month, the mayor ordered the cancellation of all events of more than 50 people in city-owned buildings, before striking that provision from his COVID executive order.

Turner has yet to say why he changed his order to allow such events, though he explained last week that he does not want to cancel the convention because doing so would politicize the situation.

The ban on 50-person events would have applied to the GOP convention, as the city owns the George R. Brown Convention Center.