The Texas Republican Convention started on Thursday at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston. The state party is meeting in person for the first time since 2018; the 2020 convention was held online because of the pandemic.
"We're in nothing less than a fight to save the America we love, the America we grew up in and the America we wish to preserve for our children," Chairman Matt Rinaldi said during his opening remarks.
The convention is being held to update the party's platform and set legislative priorities.
"Until we do everything we can to stop the radical left, our state will be at risk, our children will be in peril, and parents will be under assault by our government," Rinaldi said.
Governor Greg Abbott won the Republican primary with 67% of the vote for a third term; former Republican Party Chair Allen West finished second with 12% of the vote. Abbott will not speak at the convention itself. Instead, he plans to speak at a campaign event Thursday evening.
U.S. Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz are both scheduled to speak at the convention. Cornyn is working on bipartisan negotiations on gun control in Washington as a result of the shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo.
Among items on the GOP platform is "Defend Our Gun Rights."
"We are in a time of nonsensical ideas and legislation. It gets worse every day," said Dana Myers who is running to replace Cat Parks as vice chair. "The [Democratic] Party has a war on wisdom, values and common sense. Defund the police? How smart is that? Pay people not to work? And then we hear 'gun control' over and over again. Why don't we talk about self control? Why don't we bring discipline back into our classrooms, and while I'm at it, why don't we bring prayer back into our classrooms?"
A complete list of the Texas Republican Party's platforms:
-- Protect our Elections
Restore felony penalties and enact civil penalties for Election Code violations, which shall be enforceable by any Texas jurisdiction, including the Texas Attorney General. Require citizenship verification of each voter. Restrict the distribution of mail-in ballots to only disabled, military, and citizens that are out of state. Reduce the time allowed for early voting, and eliminate the three-day gap between early voting and election day. Establish closed primaries in Texas. As technology evolves, we encourage the passage of legislation that ensures the security of our elections.
-- Ban Democrat Chairs
To ensure all legislative priorities are given a fair opportunity to become law, the Republican-controlled Texas legislature shall adopt a rule that would end the practice of awarding committee chairmanships to Democrats.
--Abolish Abortion in Texas
Abolish abortion by ensuring the right to life and equal protection of the laws to all preborn children from the moment of fertilization, including adopting effective tools to ensure the enforcement of our laws to protect life when district attorneys fail to do so.
-- Protect the Electric Grid Secure the Integrity of Texas Electric Energy production and delivery with abundant, reliable, and resilient energy. Ensure that the Texas Grid can withstand any natural or man-made threat to include weather, cyber, physical, Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) and Geomagnetic Disturbances (GMD).
-- Ban Gender Modification of Children
Texas must ban chemical castration, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, genital mutilation, bodily alteration surgery, psychological/social transitioning, and any other methods applied to or performed on children.
-- Ban Taxpayer-Funded Lobbying
Eliminate the use of tax dollars to hire lobbyists or pay individuals or organizations that lobby any governmental entity.
-- Stop Sexualizing Texas Kids
Repeal Texas Penal Code “Obscenity Exemption” 43.24(c), which allows children access to harmful, explicit, or pornographic materials and 43.25(f)(2-3), which allows sexual performance by a child under the guise of education. In addition, prohibit teaching, exposure, and/or discussion of sexual matters (mechanics, feelings, orientation, or “gender identity” issues), and prohibit use or provision of related books and other materials using criminal, civil or other enforcement measures.
-- Secure the Border and Protect Texans
Texas shall immediately deny all taxpayer funded services and subsidies to illegal aliens. We call upon the Governor to assert his duty under Article 1, Section 10, Clause 3 of the US Constitution to declare an invasion on our Texas border and do everything in his power to protect Texans from this invasion. The legislature shall direct the Governor to enter into an Interstate Compact with one or more states for Border Security.
-- Eliminate Property Tax
Eliminate property tax and ancillary taxes such as franchise taxes and replace with a consumption tax not to exceed 10% cumulatively.
-- Educational Freedom and Parental Rights
Empower parents as the primary decision maker for their children. Texas shall create a Parents Bill of Rights with enforcement mechanisms and civil and criminal penalties. These rights shall include but are not limited to: the right of their choice of schooling, where the money follows the child without strings attached. The right to education free from any propagation of discrimination or racism such as Critical Race Theory (CRT) or Social Emotional Learning (SEL), the right to access all information related to their child’s education and the right to privacy of their child’s data.
-- Protect Medical Freedom
All Texans must be free to make their own medical decisions and have those decisions followed in all situations. This is not limited to life-sustaining treatment (repeal the 10-Day Rule), vaccinations, and COVID-19 treatments (oppose vaccine passports and mask mandates). Allow providers to offer alternative treatments without fear of retribution, discrimination, or privacy violations for all persons involved.
-- Defend Our Gun Rights
Protect our gun rights against threats, such as red flag laws, federal, state or other restrictions, by strengthening and preserving our inalienable rights under the second amendment to protect our life, liberty and property.
-- Stop Executive Overreach
Reform emergency powers at the state, county, and city level to prohibit the creation or suspension of laws that impact entities such as religion and business. Convene with full authority the state legislature, county commissioners court, or city council to ratify, alter or terminate any emergency declaration within 14 days.
-- Convention of States
Extend Texas’ call for a Convention of the States to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government.
-- Save Women's Sports
Protect women’s opportunities, health, safety, and fair play in sports by banning biological men from competing in women’s collegiate athletics.
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