The State Republican Executive Committee has declined to remove any incumbent lawmakers from the primary ballot in 2026, after considering a slate of censure resolutions during a special meeting on Saturday.
The SREC considered ten potential censures against GOP lawmakers, ultimately rejecting half of them and declining to use the strictest penalty available under party rules: removal from the primary ballot.
Under Rule 44, local party committees may censure a Republican officeholder who has taken three or more actions in opposition to the party’s principles or legislative priorities. If such a resolution is sent to the SREC, the state committee may, by a three-fifths vote, impose penalties.
The censures, brought under Rule 44 of the Republican Party of Texas, targeted Speaker Dustin Burrows and nine other House members.
Those penalties can include withholding party resources, publicly discouraging the officeholder from running, or, in the most severe case, refusing to allow them on the Republican primary ballot for two years.
In the end, the committee voted to concur with five censure resolutions for State Reps. Dade Phelan, Angelia Orr, Jared Patterson, Stan Lambert, and Gary VanDeaver but stopped short of invoking the “ballot ban” option approved by delegates at last year’s convention.
All five censures were limited to formal reprimands and the potential to have the party spend money against them. Two of the censured lawmakers, Phelan and Lambert, are not seeking reelection.
The SREC declined to concur with censure resolutions against Speaker Dustin Burrows and State Reps. Angie Chen Button, Cody Harris, Jeff Leach, and Morgan Meyer.
Chairman Abraham George opened the meeting with a lengthy address, reminding members of their responsibility to represent the grassroots between conventions, while also highlighting the party’s legislative progress under the current leadership.
“Our legislative priorities are not written by some elites,” George told the committee. “They come from the greatest grassroots process in the world… our job is to listen to the grassroots from one convention until they tell us differently at the next convention.”
George praised lawmakers and activists for passing what he said were forty-three bills aligned with party priorities during the 89th Legislature and securing additional Republican congressional seats through redistricting efforts.
He contrasted that record with prior sessions and noted that, despite early conflicts with Speaker Burrows, the party ultimately worked with House leadership to advance measures on border security, foreign land ownership, and restoring the attorney general’s authority to prosecute election fraud.
George also made clear that the party’s main focus heading into 2026 is closing the state’s open primary elections.
The Republican Party of Texas and Attorney General Ken Paxton recently joined forces in a lawsuit seeking to end crossover voting by Democrats in GOP primaries. George called the legal fight “the biggest fight today” and said it could reshape the state’s political landscape.
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