Voting Resources
The Republican Party of Texas State Convention May 23 and May 24 Elections – Part II
As a Delegate attendee for at least 10 State conventions, countless precinct and county conventions, and an Alternate to the Republican National Convention, nothing should surprise me. But as we know wonders never cease.
Each of the 31 Senate Districts held their election on May 23 for permanent Caucus Chair and permanent committee members. I will focus on SD25 because that is my district which represents seven counties: Bexar, Blanco, Comal, Guadalupe, Hays, Kendall, and Travis. Senate District 25 is also the largest district with 485 Delegate allocation. The SD25 caucus began at 2:30pm to elect the permanent members. The Temporary chair and committee members were selected prior to the convention by either SREC member and were approved by the State Chair Matt Rinaldi. The permanent election is a formality since the temporary members work the week prior to the convention and should be selected as permanent members. In some cases, a nominee from the Senate District floor can be elected over the temporary member.
The most noteworthy vote was for the Rules Committee permanent member. Trey Trainor was nominated from the floor to go against Naomi Narvaiz. A distinctive sign of contention. As Trainor had made his contempt for Matt Rinaldi and Narvaiz known through his X tweets prior to the convention. As the Federal Elections Commissioner, Trainor’s behavior is probably not the most principled.
Trainor lost to Narvaiz 259 to 221 for permanent member of the Rules Committee. I was the poll watcher for the ballot count in Comal County for this race only. Comal County had a difficult time with the vote count; they could not agree on the number of votes so the number given was 55 Narvaiz and 55 Trainor. In one instance the entire Comal County delegation’s votes were void because the votes turned in were 112 and the Delegate strength was 110. I will attribute this to the inexperienced newly elected Comal chair Mark Montgomery.
Delegates voted all temporary members and caucus chair to permanent committee members and caucus chair.
The Permanent Caucus Chair, Jennifer Fleck
Rules Committee, Naomi Narvaiz
Legislative Priorities, Johan Gervais
Platform Committee, Patrick von Dohlen
Party Organization, Lauren Day
Election of SREC committeeman and SREC committee woman and the state chair were voted on May 24, early at 8:00am. Three minute speeches were allowed to each candidate. This is usually a very exciting time with Delegates wearing buttons, tee shirts and holding signs promoting their preferred candidate. This has always been the case. But this year I sensed an uneasiness going through the crowd of Delegates.
The first SREC elected was the committeeman. In the first round were Michael Wheeler from Kendall, Gerry Ward from Travis and incumbent Chris Byrd from Comal. After the first vote Ward was eliminated, leaving the two top vote getters. HD19 Carrie Isaac spoke on behalf of Chris Byrd and so did former State Chair James Dickey and HD122 Mark Dorazio. A last ditch endorsement from Chair Matt Rinaldi came in an effort to block Wheeler from being elected.
Senator Donna Campbell had a hand in expelling Byrd when she endorsed Wheeler. This action was so insane.
It’s important to know how each county voted so that the power struggle is known. The final vote count (440 out of 485) for the SREC Committeeman was:
BYRD (raw count):
Bexar 83, Blanco 8, Comal 55, Guadalupe 16, Hays 14, Kendall 0, Travis 10 for a grand total of 188
WHEELER (raw count):
Bexar 78, Blanco 2, Comal 55, Guadalupe 11, Hays 29, Kendall 36, Travis 43 for a grand total of 254
Ward accomplished his goal to oust Byrd for his lack of integrity.
Michael Wheeler is the SREC SD25 committeeman. Congratulations! Look forward to his visits in Comal.
Next was the election of the SREC Committee woman. This race was extremely pugnacious and very surreal. Incumbent Naomi Narvaiz had been under attack since early May by the Trainors. His shameless tweets were totally inappropriate and not true. His last tweet blamed Narvaiz for the seating arrangement at the convention. Narvaiz had no part in the seating location of SD25. How petty was this?
The “anti-Semitic” mantra was used to bring her down. It’s obvious that lies and half-truths worked on some of the Delegates. Trainor had worked for the RPT and had an ax to grind with Chair Matt Rinaldi for letting her go. Trainor is employed by Dana Myers, candidate for state chair. Attorney Robbi Hull representing TFRW from Travis was the third candidate.
It seemed that everything was just so bizarre and adding to the turmoil Senator Donna Campbell SD25 did what I consider a strategic move to oust Narvaiz. Campbell decided to get involved the day before by endorsing Lucy Trainor and Robbi Hull. Campbell told me she had her reasons but did NOT clarify. The devil never rests. Interesting that Attorney General Ken Paxton and Chair Matt Rinaldi had both endorsed Narvaiz.
We have all come to the conclusion that elected officials do not always want or like to be held accountable and Chair Rinaldi and Narvaiz did just that…held officials accountable.
The first round eliminated Hull leaving Narvaiz and Trainor. The raw votes were as follows:
NARVAIZ:
Bexar 76, Blanco 1, Comal 31, Guadalupe 15, Hays 6, Kendall 4, Travis 20 for a Grand Total 153
TRAINOR:
Bexar 82, Blanco 9, Comal 77, Guadalupe 12, Hays 37, Kendall 32, Travis 33 for a Grand Total 282
It’s difficult to grasp that Comal votes elected Trainor but stranger things have happened. Trainor from BLUE Hays will now be the liaison between the counties and the RPT. Lucy Trainor is the SREC committee woman for SD25. Congratulations! Looking forward to Lucy’s informative newsletters.
The HATE displayed by Comal county and a particular couple stunned me. Hate comes from issues of wanting power and control.
Ephesians 4:31-32
All bitterness, fury, anger, shouting, and reviling must be removed from you, along with all malice. [And] be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
The election for the SD25 state Chair was next. Grassroots conservatives knew that Abraham George was endorsed by Chair Matt Rinaldi and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Other candidates were: Ben Armenta, Mike Garcia, Mack Mackowiak, Weston Martinez and Dana Myers. The process was to eliminate one candidate at a time. It became obvious that George was not going to make the runoff in SD25. The runoff for state chair in SD25 went to Weston Martinez from Bexar and Dana Myers from Harris County. Martinez was endorsed by Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and campaigned on moving the GOP Headquarters away from Austin. Myers was endorsed by RED LINE “conservatives.” Her statement to the Texas Tribune was, “we find ourselves in a state of disarray, fractured by internal divisions and marred by turmoil. This situation is untenable, and it’s time for a positive change."
Kaci Sisk from Comal spoke on behalf of her candidate Myers. SD25 was not friendly to AG Paxton nor to Chair Rinaldi endorsed candidates.
Vote count for Myers: Bexar 50, Blanco 8, Comal 58, Guadalupe 9, Hays 27, Kendall 23, and Travis 24 for a grand total of 199
The vote count for Martinez: Bexar 96, Blanco 2, Comal 48, Guadalupe 16, Hays 17, Kendall 13, and Travis 25, for a (raw) grand total of 217 Bexar and Comal counties gave him the win in SD25.
The vote for State Chair went to the floor in a later session. Ultimately, Abraham George was elected Republican Party of Texas chairman as explained in Part I of my series of RPT articles.
Looking back at all the candidates, listening to all the speeches and watching how the ballots were handled and counted, I’m of the opinion that changes should be made or rules should be strictly enforced so that we can confidentially say who was elected. Each county chairman should be responsible for his delegation’s vote count.
