After a former Democrat candidate won a Republican precinct chair position and was declared ineligible, he is suing the Tarrant County GOP and its chairman, Bo French.
During the March Republican primary election, Chris Rector won a seat as precinct chair position 4320 for the Tarrant County GOP. Precinct chairs are members of their county party’s executive committee, which assists in governing the local party.
After reviewing public records showing Rector’s affiliation with the Democrat Party, French declared that Rector was administratively ineligible for the position.
According to the records, Rector is a member of the Democrat Party, ran for the Texas House of Representatives as a Democrat in 2022, and ran for U.S. Congress as a Democrat candidate in 2024.
In social media posts, Rector even admitted to being a Democrat, saying in one post, “I’m no Biden fan and I’m no Trump fan. I’m a Democrat though.”
In another post on X from 2022, Rector encouraged voters to “turn Texas blue.”
“Today is primary election day! Today is our fight for democracy. Go vote!! Turn Texas BLUE in 22!!”
Rector also has a history of criticizing and mocking Texas Republicans, with one post featuring an LGBT “Pride” flag, reading, “If you have to make laws to hurt a group of people just to prove your morals and faith, then you have no true morals or faith to prove.”
He has also reposted Facebook posts from the Tarrant County Democratic Party and former gubernatorial candidate Robert (Beto) O’Rourke.
According to a letter posted by French, Rector has confessed to “‘pretending to be a Republican,’ and that his goal as precinct chair would be to dissolve the Tarrant County GOP and merge it with the Democratic party.”
It was also revealed that Rector had hired the former chairman and current general counsel for the Tarrant County Democrat Party to sue French and the local GOP.
“As Chairman, I will defend the Tarrant County GOP from those who seek to hold us back, destroy our organization, and ultimately destroy Tarrant County and Texas by turning it blue,” wrote French. “We will defend this lawsuit and win it, whatever that takes.”
The situation has caused some, including French, to reiterate the call to close Texas primaries.
“Closed primaries are needed for election integrity,” said Christine Welborn, president of Advancing Integrity. “Not only will it prevent intra-party sabotage, but it would serve as a guard against ranked-choice voting and inaccurate voter rolls.
“Closed primaries are essential to accurate elections and must be a priority at the RPT Convention and in the next session of the Texas Legislature,” she added.
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