In Texas: a once-in-a-generation battle for control of the Republican Party

Rarely have the infighting among Texas Republicans been as bitter, prolonged and far-reaching as the primaries that culminated in Election Day on Tuesday.

The fighting has focused mainly on members of the Texas House, who angered many conservative voters last year by impeaching Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton on charges of corruption and abuse of office. Mr. Paxton, who was acquitted in the Texas Senate, vowed revenge, and number one in his sights was the House speaker, Dade Phelan.

Gov. Greg Abbott has also gone after some Republicans in the Texas House, trying to unseat those who opposed his plan to use public money to help families pay for private and religious schools.

Aggressive campaigns by both state leaders are exacerbating tensions that have been simmering for years between the party’s old guard and a more socially conservative faction aligned with former President Donald J. Trump, who sees Tuesday’s vote as an opportunity to rebalance the balance of power to shift the Texas House. , who has served as a moderating force in state politics.

The battle is not unique to Texas, as Republicans across the country and in Congress wage a battle for control of the party. But the outcome could have broad resonance if Republicans in Texas, the most populous and wealthiest conservative state, decide the state should move even further to the right.

“This is a once-in-a-generation election,” said Nick Maddox, a Republican consultant who works with Mr. Paxton and for Republican candidates in more than a dozen races.

If the two chambers of the Texas Legislature emerged from the election even further to the right, “it would be the most conservative legislature in the country,” said Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican consultant who has done work with school voucher supporters. “Dade and his allies are the only thing preventing that.”

The flood of outside money and the sheer number of contests, including more than two dozen races considered competitive, have forced longtime representatives into nerve-wracking fights for their political lives. Those involved in fundraising said the primaries would likely be the most expensive ever seen in Texas, a state known for big campaign spending.

To finance his statewide efforts, Mr. Abbott received a $6 million campaign contribution — the largest in state history — from a Pennsylvania billionaire, Jeff Yass, who supports school voucher programs. A pair of West Texas billionaires who have long supported Christian conservative causes have invested more than $2 million to help candidates aligned with Mr. Paxton. Millions more have been spent defending Mr Phelan and his controversial colleagues.

“It is without a doubt the most painful election we have seen,” Mr. Phelan said, citing his own experiences and those of his colleagues.

As he greeted voters this week in Vidor, Texas, near the Louisiana border, Mr. Phelan — wearing a white T-shirt and camouflage hat, both printed with his name — responded to his opponent’s claims that Texas House had made no progress under his leadership. conservative causes.

“We went from 50,000 abortions to 34, and they say that’s not pro-life. We have constitutional capacity. You no longer have to get a permit from the government to carry a firearm, and they said that’s not good enough because convicted felons are not allowed to have them,” Mr Phelan said. ‘Tell me, what else should I do? Mandatory to bring?”

In addition to his efforts to oust Republican state representatives like Mr. Phelan, who supported the attorney general’s ouster last year, Mr. Paxton is trying to reshape the state’s highest criminal court by removing three Republican judges. dismiss those serving on the Court of Criminal Appeals.

He has criticized the justices for being Republicans in name only for their part in an 8-1 ruling by the all-Republican court, which ruled that the state constitution did not allow Mr. Paxton to unilaterally prosecute criminal voter fraud cases without the involvement of local prosecutors.

Sharon Keller, the presiding judge and one of those facing a challenge, said she was surprised by the attacks. “I’ve always been criticized for being too conservative,” she says said in a television interview.

At the same time, Mr. Paxton faces criminal charges dating back to a 2015 indictment for securities fraud. Arguments over details that have delayed the case already been before the highest criminal court whose judges he now attacks.

Although both Mr. Abbott and Mr. Paxton are rooting for Republican incumbents, their interests are not always aligned. And Mr. Abbott himself has faced challenges from the far right in his party, including during his 2022 primary.

On Monday evening, Mr. Abbott appeared in the Houston suburb of Katy with state Rep. Jacey Jetton, who supported the governor’s voucher plan for private schools but had voted to oust Mr. Paxton. It was the third time the governor had traveled to the area to support Mr. Jetton during the primaries.

In an interview, Mr. Jetton lamented the large number of mailers and advertisements against him, especially those suggesting he supported the “trans agenda.” He clarified that he was a co-sponsor of a ban on gender transition care for minors.

“There are a number of candidates who are basing themselves on complete lies,” he said. “If they win, I think it will take us in a dangerous direction.”

Nowhere has the campaign been more hard-fought than in the Southeast Texas district that Mr. Phelan has represented since 2015, and where his family has played a prominent role in the business community for generations. A boulevard in Beaumont, the largest nearby city, bears the family name, as does a shopping plaza. He hasn’t faced an opponent from either party in a decade.

Mr. Phelan is being challenged by David Covey, a local Republican Party activist and technical adviser to the oil and gas industry, who has pledged to help make the Texas House more like the conservative Senate.

Mr. Covey, who described himself as a “very committed Christian and conservative,” said in a telephone interview that Mr. Phelan and other representatives in Austin were too accommodating to Democrats and had lost touch with what Republican voters want.

“The conflict comes because elected leaders are not listening to Republican voters and the majority of Republican activists,” he said.

His campaign has been supported by outside groups such as Texans United for a Conservative Majority, backed by oil and gas money from West Texas, and catapulted into the national spotlight by an endorsement from Mr. Trump, who called Mr. Covey out of the blue. to offer it.

“It was an incredible moment in my personal life and in the campaign,” Mr. Covey said. “His message was: As Texas goes, so goes the nation.”

For his part, Mr. Phelan was endorsed by Rick Perry, the former Republican governor, who has hosted two events for the speaker in recent weeks.

At one point in the race, online entertainers, posing as supporters of Mr. Phelan and claiming to have a transgender child and a fentanyl addiction, knocked on doors in the neighborhood, including Mr. Phelan’s house. He was not home at the time, Mr. Phelan said, but his wife and four children were.

In addition, a 44-year-old man from Orange County, in Mr. Phelan’s district, was subsequently arrested making threats against Mr Phelan on Facebook. “He told me what gun he was going to use and how he was going to do it – I think he said my right temple,” Mr Phelan said.

A recent poll from the Texas Politics Project, a program at the University of Texas, found that Mr. Phelan’s statewide approval rose slightly from December, but still below 30 percent.

“Phelan has been there for a while, maybe it’s time for some new blood,” said Pat Jinks, a Vidor resident, after voting for Mr. Covey at the early voting center there. Her husband, Brett, said he voted for Mr. Phelan.

Another voter, Tony Wilcoxson, the mayor of the nearby town of Rose City, came forward and shook Mr. Phelan’s hand. He said he voted for the speaker because of the relief Mr. Phelan got for the area after Hurricane Harvey. “I’m as conservative as I am a Republican, anti-abortion, pro-gun and all those good things, but at the end of the day you have to take care of the people,” he said.

Early voting turnout in the Texas primaries was low in most places, and Republican voters who turned out to cast ballots in Vidor seemed torn and eager to put the fight behind them.

“I wasn’t unhappy” with Mr. Phelan, said Randy Jarrell, who nevertheless said he voted for Mr. Covey. He said Trump’s endorsement had an impact on him and his wife, who also supported the challenger. Both were tired of the flyers in their mailboxes and the barrage of attack ads on television.

“I’ll be glad when it’s over,” he said.