Texas Republicans warn divisions could hand the governor's seat to Beto O'Rourke

[LetMyPeopleVote]

While the Texas gop convention is in Houston, I have tried to not follow this event more than necessary. I was surprised to see that Governor Greg Abbott did not speak at this event. That is very strange to me. This is the first time that Greg has not addressed a Texas GOP state convention.

Link to tweet

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Gov-Greg-Abbott-plays-reduced-role-as-GOP-17247600.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&utm_source=t.co&utm_medium=referral

Though Abbott’s campaign insists they never considered skipping the biennial event, he is playing a much different role than any Republican governor over the last three decades. Abbott hosted the reception near the convention, but is not scheduled to formally address the delegates at their general meetings like he and Govs. Rick Perry and George W. Bush have at almost every GOP convention for the last 30 years.

Though Abbott’s campaign insists they never considered skipping the biennial event, he is playing a much different role than any Republican governor over the last three decades. Abbott hosted the reception near the convention, but is not scheduled to formally address the delegates at their general meetings like he and Govs. Rick Perry and George W. Bush have at almost every GOP convention for the last 30 years.......

Though Abbott’s campaign insists they never considered skipping the biennial event, he is playing a much different role than any Republican governor over the last three decades. Abbott hosted the reception near the convention, but is not scheduled to formally address the delegates at their general meetings like he and Govs. Rick Perry and George W. Bush have at almost every GOP convention for the last 30 years......

Even the current chairman, Matt Rinaldi, can’t be mistaken as a fan. Before becoming chairman he endorsed former State Sen. Don Huffines in the governor’s race over Abbott; he eventually withdrew the support to maintain neutrality while leading the party.

Rinaldi set a tone on Thursday in an introductory speech where he praised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, but never once mentioned Abbott.

Houston used to be Greg's home city when he was at a law firm. For Greg to skip the convention shows some divisions in the party

[LakeArenal]

1. Yay and procede.

[kimbutgar]

2. I hopes it permeates into a cesspool of vipers where they destroy each other and makes the

Repukes implode in Texas. Revolting to anyone with even a little bit of sense.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

3. Texas Republicans warn divisions could hand the governor's seat to Beto O'Rourke

Beto needs to take advantage of this division
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/texas/article/Texas-Republicans-warn-divisions-could-hand-the-17251136.php?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_medium=referral

Although Abbott won his primary with 66 percent of the vote, he’s had trouble with some of the leadership within the GOP for how he’s handled the pandemic and other legislative issues. Allen West, the former chairman of the party, ran against him in the Republican primary in March. Matt Rinaldi, the current chair who was elected to a two-year term during the convention this week, had endorsed former state Sen. Don Huffines over Abbott in the primary initially before later rescinding that to appear neutral in the race.

It led to an odd dynamic this week, with Abbott skipping out on speaking at the official convention meetings for the first time during his two terms as governor. The governor held an informal reception nearby and hasn’t had advertising around the convention like he did at past conventions.

Huffines, who was more of a presence at the convention, is adding to the concern among Republicans that some could skip the race. In an interview, he refused to say he’s voting for Abbott in the fall.

“We’re tired of having to hold our nose to vote for people who don’t do what we want,” Huffines said......

That fear is based on recent election data. In 2018, when O’Rourke came within 3 percentage points of defeating U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, nearly every statewide Republican had the closest re-election of their career, even against dramatically underfunded Democratic opponents with little name recognition.

Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller all won their re-elections with just 51 percent of the vote in 2018, when four years earlier without O’Rourke at the top of the ticket they were all near 60 percent.

[Lovie777]

4. The GQPs are getting worst against their own . . .

NM, Texas, MI, and a few other places,

[Rhiannon12866]

5. That would be the best possible news!