HOUSTON — Cowboy hats, American flag shirts, red baseball caps with a slogan about making things great again, red shirts.
It’s not the official dress code of the state Republican party convention being held this week, but being dressed as such certainly helps with fitting in with thousands of the state’s most dutiful Republicans filling the downtown Houston convention center.
Need some Ronald Reagan socks? This is your place. How about a photo with a cardboard cut-out of Donald Trump wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon” shirt? No problem. Bedazzled elephant brooch? Check.
But the tchotchkes of the convention floor are something of a cheerful yin to the rageful yang of a of a Texas GOP that, after the last time they met virtually in 2020, saw an anti-Trump wave sweep them from power in both the White House and Senate.
And the delegates are meeting amid the backdrop of ever more concerning headlines out of Washington from the Jan. 6 committee, something many here consider a farce or even a criminal endeavor.
“They should be imprisoned, fined and censured,” Abilene delegate Douglas E. Offermann said of the committee.
And yet, this is a time of enthusiasm and energy for a Republican Party that appears on the precipice of making huge gains in Washington and likely will continue to hold all reins of power in Texas, as it has for more than 20 years.
The official count of delegates was 2,621, Republican Party Chair Matt Rinaldi said during a general assembly. That’s more delegates than the Republican national convention, but far fewer than attended many previous Texas GOP conventions.
Rinaldi later estimated that as many as 12,000 people were at the convention.
“The enthusiasm is high and I think people are more united than ever going into November,” Rinaldi said.
Certainly they were united in favor of Gov. Greg Abbott, who hosted an opening ceremony Thursday near the George R. Brown Convention Center. Many conventiongoers were decked in camouflage shirts with the slogan “Don’t Beto my Texas.”
Houston Republican Rep. Briscoe Cain drew wild cheers from the general assembly while boasting about his 141-day suspension from Twitter for posting, “My AR is ready for you,” a tweet deemed a threat by the social media company. Cain added “Robert Francis” to the end of that sentence Thursday, making clear the line he was drawing was to the Democratic gubernatorial candidate who once promised to come after all AK-47s and AR-15s.
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The actual business of Thursday’s convention was far less dramatic than the rhetoric. Parliamentarians and sergeants-at-arms were in full swing as various committees caucused and considered candidates for a leadership committee, as well as whittling down the party platform and legislative recommendations that will be decided on Saturday.
Among the thousands of attendees roaming the halls also were the occasional state senator, House representative or even railroad commissioner.
“A great thing about the convention is that you get to speak to them one on one,” Denton delegate Timothy McCormick said.
“This is an element of civil duty,” McCormick continued. “We have this amazing nation and so few people are willing to take even a tiny bit of time to hold our officials accountable.”
Temple delegate Daniel Carter said he comes to the conventions because it is the most direct way to affect legislation through the official party platform and recommendations to GOP lawmakers. But he was less optimistic about the actual impact delegates have on officials in attendance.
“As soon as they get in office, they turn against us and compete for Greg Abbott’s war chest,” Carter said.
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Texas Republicans open state party convention - The Dallas Morning News
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