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Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republican Party of Texas sets stage to censure members who stepped out of line in likely bid to block them from primary ballot
This article was adapted from our premium politics newsletter, The Blast, which delivers exclusive reporting, nonpartisan analysis and the first word on political moves across the state. Subscribe today. The executive committee of the Republican Party of Texas was in Austin on Saturday to finalize its first-ever legislative review, outlining a list of censurable offenses that some within the Texas GOP want to use to block certain House Republicans from the 2026 primary ballot. Those Republicans, made up of delegates chosen by county parties, want to use the list to hold their elected officials to the state party's priorities. But others see it as an illegal effort to deny officials from the primary ballot if they don't follow the most fervent conservative activists' aims 100% of the time. Texas GOP Chair Abraham George told The Blast that he and House Speaker Dustin Burrows, who spoke to members of the SREC at a separate meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott earlier Saturday morning, have not discussed the party's censure effort, a new 'accountability' mechanism the state party approved at its 2024 convention. Still, Burrows likely knew the SREC members would be approving a hit list that could be used to keep 'RINOs' from the ballot. Earlier this year Burrows and the state party were at odds with one another. The Texas GOP has spent money in Burrows' district with ads opposing his speakership. At the time, Burrows dismissed George's critiques that the House was letting GOP priority bills stall in the House in an interview with Spectrum News' James Barragán published May 7. 'I don't respond to him. He's not worth responding to,' Burrows said of George. But the political environment in Texas has shifted drastically since then. George told The Blast on Saturday that Democrats breaking quorum has brought every Republican together in a way that's been good for the party and the 'grassroots,' referring to the Texas GOP's leadership and activists. 'We have an open line with the speaker,' George said. 'You don't have to agree all the time. We probably are still going to have some disagreements. That's part of the process.' State Rep. Mitch Little, R-Lewisville, who has previously been critical of Burrows, likened it to 'a new day of mutual respect and courtesy and cooperation between the party and the speaker.' List of Grievances The State Republican Executive Committee, or SREC, hunkered down in the Capitol auditorium and outlined censurable offenses that would apply to a majority of the GOP caucus, particularly Burrows' top committee chairs. The report itself doesn't censure lawmakers. It's a list of transgressions that county parties can use to censure their representatives and ask to bar them from the March primary ballot. State Affairs Chair Ken King of Canadian, whose committee was a bottleneck for several GOP priority bills, was the subject of numerous censurable offenses. Even Public Education Chair Brad Buckley of Salado — who quarterbacked Gov. Greg Abbott's No. 1 priority, school vouchers, across the finish line — was mentioned for not advancing a bill to deny public education to K-12 students who are in the country illegally, House Bill 4707. The list of offenses include bills that failed to pass in the regular session that Abbott has added to the call for the special session. A common theme throughout the meeting was that the report needs to be airtight because they may have to defend it in court, as George noted. Eric Opiela, an attorney helping several House Republicans with pending censures, was in the audience. 'We are talking about providing grounds for possibly keeping an office holder off the primary ballot,' said Rolando Garcia, an SREC member for Senate District 15 in Harris County. 'If it looks like we're really being shady and squirrely and multiplying violations just to provide grounds for keeping people off the ballot, that is very damaging to RPT.' Perhaps the most contentious part of the meeting came when the SREC took up the Legislative Review Task Force report on Republicans' effort to ban Democrats from House committee chairmanships, a top priority of the Texas GOP. The House voted to reserve committee chairs for Republicans, but they left vice chairmanships for Democrats when it approved the rules package back in February. A majority of the House, including a majority of Republicans, voted to prematurely close debate and amendments on the rules and ultimately approved them. Deborah Kelting-Fite, an SREC member for Senate District 7 in Harris and Montgomery counties, called the rules a 'Trojan horse designed to give Democrats more control.' Steve Evans, an SREC member for Senate District 28 in Burrows' hometown of Lubbock and West Texas, tried to strip the entire Democratic chairs section from the report, pointing out that it named 51 members — a majority of the GOP caucus' 88 members. Censuring that many Republicans felt like it would create too many unnecessary enemies, he said. 'This is pretty huge to name this many members when we have so many things going on,' Evans said. 'We've got the messaging that's going on from the White House to redistrict, we have the House trying to restore a quorum, and then we're going to come in here, in their house, and do this?' Burrows himself wasn't completely absolved by everyone on the SREC. Some members tried to add an item that would have made voting in favor of Burrows as speaker to the list of political sins, arguing it was the culmination of a conspiracy to give Democrats more power. Before the legislative session started, the RPT opposed Burrows for House speaker, throwing its support behind his opponent Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield. George shot down that effort, saying the speaker election was not a legislative priority. Only violations of legislative priorities were to be considered censurable offenses. The SREC voted to delay the final report by a couple days to allow lawmakers an opportunity to try to explain some of their censurable acts to the committee by Monday. The committee will distribute the final report to county parties on Wednesday. Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual , happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas' most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now and join us this November. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
04-08-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
As political petition passing begins, Illinois Democrats have flood of candidates; Republicans have a trickle
More than seven months before votes are cast, Illinois' 2026 political campaign season officially kicks off this week as candidates for federal, state and county offices fan out across the state to gather petition signatures to appear on the March 17 primary ballot. The Tuesday launch date to begin gathering voter signatures is a month earlier this year due to legislation approved last year that also advanced the date for candidates to file their petitions to Oct. 27, rather than the end of November. It's the latest chapter in an unusual midterm election cycle that has seen veteran federal lawmakers announce their retirements at the end of their terms in January 2027, creating open-seat races for U.S. Senate, four congressional seats and state comptroller, as well as several legislative seats, as politicians aspire to climb the political ladder. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin's decision to retire after five terms has prompted U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, a five-termer from Schaumburg, and Robin Kelly, a six-term lawmaker from Matteson, to seek the Democratic nomination to succeed him. That primary race also includes Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. Adding to Kelly's open 2nd Congressional District seat and Krishnamoorthi's 8th Congressional District seat are the retirement announcements of 14-term, 81-year-old U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston in the 9th Congressional District and 15-term, 83-year-old U.S. Rep. Danny Davis of Chicago in the 7th Congressional District. Those open seats in reliably Democratic districts have triggered a rush of candidates competing in the primaries, where winning will almost certainly lead to victories in the general election on Nov. 3, 2026. At least 62 candidates have already announced their intentions to run for the five federal offices, 47 of them Democrats, portending a raucous primary season as they seek to gain attention and differentiate themselves before prospective voters. Add to that at least three Democrats vying for the open statewide office of comptroller created by incumbent Susana Mendoza's decision not to seek reelection as she pursues a likely 2027 mayoral run. Robin Johnson, a political strategist and political science professor at Monmouth College in far western Illinois, said the allure of an open seat is an obvious factor for the deluge of candidacy announcements. But he said other factors are in play. 'I think it's pent-up demand due to open seats, but I also think it's due to the generational battle within the Democratic Party and the ideological battle within the Democratic Party that's bringing out a lot of people who might not ordinarily consider running,' Johnson said. 'They're looking at the success of Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayoral Democratic candidate,' he said of the 33-year-old democratic socialist. 'Some of these candidates are drawing their beginnings back to (Vermont Sen.) Bernie Sanders, were motivated by his first (Democratic presidential) race in 2016,' he said of the generational change movement. In addition, Johnson cited as a motivating factor an ideological battle spawned by President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress that pits 'those Democrats who are the resistance part of the party and the others who are still trying to get things done and compromise where they can to get things done.' Not all of the announced candidates will file petitions or make the ballot amid petition challenges filed by rivals. But Johnson also warned that large fields of candidates seeking a specific office can lead to a nominee achieving far below a majority of votes, forcing them to try to unify a disparate base. 'The question is going to be, is this (large number of candidates) just a one-timer as a result of incumbents retiring and the raging debates going on within the Democratic Party, or is this ideological and generational divide going to continue?' he asked. While Democrats have seen a flood of candidate announcements, for Illinois' moribund Republican Party, it's more of a trickle. So far, no major GOP candidates have emerged for U.S. Senate or most of the statewide offices. Democrats Gov. JB Pritzker, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and Treasurer Mike Frerichs are all seeking reelection. DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick is the only announced candidate for governor of any political stature, and he reported July 1 having only $100,000 in cash on hand in his political fund to take on the billionaire Pritzker. Others are said to be weighing a bid, including former state GOP Chair Don Tracy, Palatine Township Highway Commissioner Aaron Del Mar and Ted Dabrowski, president of the conservative advocacy group Wirepoints. On Sunday, Richard Porter, an attorney and former Republican national committeeman from Illinois, used social media to announce he would not seek the GOP nomination for Durbin's U.S. Senate seat. 'After close consultations with my family and friends, I have decided not to pursue this opportunity,' Porter wrote in a Facebook post. 'I intend to stay involved in the effort to turn around Illinois.' Republican Day at the Illinois State Fair on Aug. 14 may prove to be an important event for the party, depending upon whether potential candidates use the day to announce a decision to run. Pat Brady, a former state GOP chair and a Republican not aligned with Trump and his takeover of the party, said the dearth of candidate news is 'unfortunate, because I think there are things that Republicans can talk about that the voters would like. But you can't beat somebody with nobody.' As the party's influence in Illinois has continued to dwindle, more internal factional infighting has developed. 'I've never, ever seen it where it's going to be questionable whether or not the Republicans have a full (statewide) slate,' he said. 'I haven't heard anybody for comptroller, haven't heard anybody for secretary of state, haven't heard anybody for treasurer. Nobody's even leaking their name to get attention.' Brady said the results of the 2022 Republican primary, which saw a slate of candidates backed by billionaire Ken Griffin and headed by former Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin go down in defeat, also meant the loss of several up-and-coming Republicans who could be running this time. 'It's a sad, sad thing, but the party's got to come to grips with the fact that the approach that we need to get more conservative to win — that doesn't work. Or we need to be more Trumpy to win — that hasn't worked either,' Brady said. 'I do believe there are things Republicans used to stand for or should stand for that would be of interest to Illinois voters, taxes, economic growth, things like that.'
