- The Republican Party of Texas has adopted a preliminary “Legislative Task Force Report” that lists various actions that can be used to censure lawmakers
- Nearly half of Texas House Republicans incurred three or more censure strikes under the report, laying the groundwork for potential attempts to deny them access to the Republican Primary ballot
- Any attempt by the Republican Party of Texas to deny Republican Primary ballot access to Trump-endorsed lawmakers would likely come at the expense of helping elect additional pro-Trump Republicans to Congress
Members of the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) – the governing body of the Republican Party of Texas – met on Saturday to adopt a “Legislative Task Force Report” that lays the groundwork for the Party to potentially bar numerous members of the Texas Legislature from seeking a place on the 2026 Republican Primary Ballot. The vast majority of the lawmakers who could be barred from the Primary ballot have been endorsed for re-election by President Trump.
The report sets forth various actions by state lawmakers that the Party contends constitute violations of the Party’s legislative priorities.
Under Rule 44 of the Republican Party of Texas Rules, officeholders deemed to have taken three or more “actions taken during the Officeholder’s current term in opposition to the core principles of the Republican Party of Texas defined in the Preamble of the Party Platform” or actions in opposition to “the Legislative Priorities adopted at the most recent State Convention” can face censure by the Party.
Under an amendment to Rule 44 made at the Republican Party of Texas State Convention last year, censured officeholders could be barred from the Republican Primary ballot. However, the amendment is legally dubious.
A legal memo prepared for the Texas Republican County Chairmen’s Association earlier this year analyzed the issue of whether the Republican Party of Texas has the legal ability to bar censured officeholders from the Primary ballot. The memo, prepared by the law firms Scanes Yelverton Talbert, LLP and Ryan Law, PLLC, concluded that the Party was unlikely to have the ability to deny ballot access to censured officeholders.
The preliminary Legislative Task Force Report approved by the SREC on August 9 was distributed to lawmakers the evening of August 11 for their review. The Texas GOP is accepting comments about the preliminary report from lawmakers until 5 pm on August 13, and the SREC is scheduled to hold an electronic meeting on August 15 for final adoption of the report.
Under the preliminary report, one Republican State Senator and 41 of 88 Republican State Representatives incurred at least three censure strikes that could be used in an attempt to render them ineligible for the 2026 Republican Primary ballot. In addition to the censure strikes detailed in the report, the Texas GOP also encourages local parties to conjure additional censure strikes for censure resolutions under the Texas GOP Platform’s Preamble and Principles that could be used to potentially disqualify additional Trump-endorsed lawmakers from the Primary ballot.
“This report is not intended to be comprehensive. It only considers the Republican Party of Texas’s eight Legislative Priorities. It does not include our Platform’s Preamble or Principles. These other two elements of our Platform are included in Rule No. 44 considerations. We encourage local County and District Executive Committees to consider these other two portions of our Platform when considering censure actions,” reads a “Notice from SREC” included in the report.
Several of the actions taken by lawmakers that the SREC deemed were in opposition to one of the Party’s Legislative Priorities were either procedural in nature or had a tenuous connection to the priority cited by the SREC.
Under the Party’s Legislative Priority of “Ban Democrat Chairs”, 47 Republican State Representatives received a censure strike for seconding a motion to end debate on the Texas House rules, and 49 Republican State Representatives received a censure strike for voting to end debate on the House Rules.
The House Rules, which passed 116-23, contained language for the first time that prohibits members of the minority party from serving as chairman of a committee.
Under the Party’s Legislative Priority of “Secure the Electric Grid”, 33 Republican State Representatives received a censure strike for voting for House Bill 805, relating to a study by the Public Utility Commission of Texas on the interconnection of electric transmission service facilities with the United Mexican States. A censure strike was also given to 37 House Republicans who voted for House Bill 1359, relating to a program to provide assistance for certain retail electric customers.
Some SREC members argued against such an expansive list of actions that constituted censure strikes against Republican lawmakers.
Rolando Garcia, a SREC member from Houston, argued that it was “shady” to include two censure strikes on the motion to end debate on the House Rules. Garcia also argued that House Bills 805 and 1359 did not violate the “Secure the Electric Grid” Legislative Priority.
“This is a bill for a study – for a study – and we want to make it grounds to keep an officeholder off the ballot. Let’s keep in mind that this is a priority where we actually got everything we wanted, okay? We actually got everything we wanted, and we’re still going to censure officeholders for a bill about a study? This is insane. We are torching relationships with legislators who gave us everything we wanted on this [Legislative Priority], but we still want to censure them. I mean, come on,” said Garcia, arguing against the inclusion of House Bill 805 as grounds for a censure strike.
SREC member Steve Evans of Lubbock argued against the inclusion of the “Ban Democrat Chairs” section of that report, which included actions on the motion to end debate on House rules as two censure strikes.
“We, in effect, banned Democrat chairs. We can argue about the effects of that if you want to. We can shake our heads and say we didn’t. But we banned Democrat chairs. We changed the narrative. We had a successful session. This is pretty huge to name this many members when we have so many things going on. We’ve got the messaging that’s going on from the White House to redistrict. We’ve got the House trying to restore quorum,” said Evans.
Any censure resolutions seeking to deny an officeholder ballot access on the Republican Primary ballot must originate in the officeholder’s district and be forwarded to the SREC for final approval. The SREC will be considering censure resolutions at a meeting scheduled for October 11.
The SREC’s adoption of a report that lays the groundwork for potential attempts to bar Trump-endorsed Republican lawmakers from the Republican Primary ballot is the latest salvo by the Republican Party of Texas in what some activists have characterized as a war against President Trump by a group of Party bosses.
At a June 14 meeting, the SREC voted 54-10 for a resolution calling on President Trump to withhold endorsements of state lawmakers until the Party had completed its censure process. Undeterred by the SREC’s vote, President Trump has endorsed every Republican State Representative and State Senator who voted in support of Senate Bill 2, which created a school choice program.
Any attempt by the Republican Party of Texas to deny Primary ballot access to a Trump-endorsed lawmaker would set up a costly and divisive legal battle at the expense of the Party helping elect additional Republicans to Congress that will support President Trump and his agenda.
The most recent campaign finance report filed by the Republican Party of Texas with the Texas Ethics Commission reflected just $44,143.51 in the Party’s state account as of June 30. The Party reflected a much healthier cash on hand balance in its federal account – $1,298,847.97 – in large part due to over $900,000 in federal COVID relief funds received by the Party this year.
The Party’s federal account is the only account it can use to engage in federal election activity, such as flipping the five Congressional districts that Republicans hope to win under the proposed redistricting map.
While there has been some internal discussion among SREC members about the Party’s Directors and Officers liability insurance policy, it is unlikely that the policy would provide coverage for intentional actions to deny censured officeholders ballot access in violation of the Texas Election Code.
While the Republican Party of Texas rules provide that the Republican Party of Texas “shall provide counsel to the County Chairman or pay for any expenses incurred related to any suit” filed against a County Chairman who denies Primary ballot access to a censured officeholder, the rule does not contemplate liability for legal expenses when the State Party lacks sufficient funds.
Although the report sets forth grounds Party officials can use to attempt to disqualify nearly half of Texas House Republicans from the Primary election ballot, the report acknowledges major victories on several high-profile conservative issues during the recent legislative session. The report cites 42 bills passed during the 89th Session of the Texas Legislature in support of the Party’s legislative priorities. These include bills reforming the bail system to improve public safety, securing the electric grid, improving election integrity, protecting children from inappropriate materials, and protecting Texas from threats posed by hostile foreign nations, among others.
