Rules Committee Shakes Things Up at the Texas GOP Convention
June 21, 2024
Meeting of the Rules Committee at the 2024 Texas GOP Convention.
The 2024 Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Rules Committee shook things up at the Texas GOP Convention in San Antonio, making changes that will impact all of Texas. First, they closed the Primary with RPT Rule 46, which will make it much harder for Democrats to cross over and help elect the most moderate Republicans on the ballot. They also made changes to RPT Rule 44 to help hold Republican elected officials accountable to Republican principles.
Closed Primaries
The new RPT Rule 46 reads as follows:
Rule No. 46 – Closed Primaries
In Primary Elections and Primary Runoff Elections conducted by the Republican Party of Texas, only United States Citizens eligible to vote in Texas who qualify to vote as Republicans in accordance with this rule may cast ballots in those elections. A United States citizen eligible to vote in Texas qualifies to cast a vote in a Republican Primary Election or Primary Runoff Election only if that individual has not affiliated with another party (by voting in that party’s primary or by taking an oath of affiliation) in the current year, and meets one of the following:
a) The individual voted in the Republican Primary Election or the Republican Primary Runoff Election in the previous biennium as shown in the records maintained by the Republican Party of Texas; or
b) The individual is registered as a Republican with the Republican Party of Texas; or
c) The individual completes and submits a written certificate of affiliation with the Republican Party of Texas no later than the first day on which a candidate may file for a place on the General Primary Election ballot for the General Primary Election; or
d) The individual is voting in his or her first primary election and is under the age of 21.
The written certification of affiliation form will be created and approved by the State Republican Executive Committee. It will be made available for download on the Republican Party of Texas website and provided in printed form by the Republican Party of Texas to any voter who requests it. All certifications of affiliation must be signed in wet ink by the individual and physically returned to the Republican Party of Texas. No other qualifications to vote in a Republican primary election are required or permitted. This rule supersedes any other rule or law of the State of Texas.
Censure Process and Penalties
RPT Rule 44 also underwent some major changes at the convention. Prior to the 2024 Convention, Rule 44 would simply allow the Republican Party to discourage someone from running as a Republican and to work against candidates who were censured under RPT Rule 44. However, with the new changes, a County Chair can refuse to allow a candidate to run as a Republican if the candidate is censured under Rule 44. The state party will then indemnify the County Chair in any legal action brought by a candidate whose application to be on the ballot has been rejected due to the Rule 44 censure.
Another major change to RPT Rule 44 is the inclusion of judicial candidates in the Rule 44 censure provision. Prior to the adoption of the RPT Rules at the 2024 Convention, judicial candidates were not subject to being censured no matter how their actions and rulings from the bench conflicted with the Republican Party’s stated Principles and Platform. This is no longer the case and indeed some judicial candidates testified to have the exception remain in the rules because they claimed that this rule would cause them to recuse themselves from cases involving issues that are mentioned in our Platform and Principles.
Montgomery County Republican Party Vice Chairman Jon Bouché (SD 4), who served on the Rules Committee, was one of the most vocal advocates to eliminate the judicial exception. When questioned about his position, Bouché stated, “These judicial candidates proudly run with the “R” behind their names and profess to believe as Republicans do. The fact is, we vote for them with the expectation that they will do their jobs in a way that reflects the Party Principles that they claim to believe and that their constituents want. I believe that eliminating the judicial exception will better hold our judicial candidates accountable and will also allow the voters to choose a different candidate when our judges violate our Principles and infringe upon our God-given Constitutional rights.”
Another rule change of note is that a Rule 44 Censure of the Speaker of the House can now be initiated by any County Executive Committee in Texas.
Enforcement of the Rules
At the close of the Rules Committee, Bouché made one final motion which stated, “The State Republican Party of Texas Executive Committee shall have oversight and enforcement responsibility for these Rules.” Shockingly, that motion failed, which begs the question, who will enforce these rules that were created, perfected, and then adopted by the approximately 10,000 Republican delegates who attended the convention?