Hidalgo County Republicans are the latest on the long list of party activists calling for the removal of Texas House Speaker Joe Straus – and the first in the Rio Grande Valley. The dissatisfaction amongst Republicans has exacerbated under Straus’ obstruction of their own party’s priorities during both the regular and special session.
The Hidalgo County GOP Executive Committee doesn’t meet again until September 12 – after the special session ends – so at the request of several executive committee members, HCGOP conducted a straw poll on Straus’ leadership via phone, text, and email.
On Tuesday, HCGOP Chairman Sergio Sanchez concluded the two-question survey, in which two-thirds of Republican precinct chairs voted “yes” to remove Straus as Speaker of the House and in support of Abbott’s conservative agenda this special session:
Question One: “In solidarity with other GOP Executive Committees in Texas, do you wish to express NO confidence in Representative Joe Straus as Texas House Speaker and call for his removal and replacement by GOP Texas lawmakers?”
Question Two: “Do you want the Texas House to pass all of Governor Abbott’s priority list for this special session?”
Similar unofficial surveys have been used by local conservative groups in the RGV, including the McAllen Tea Party and Brownsville GOP Club, to gauge the loss of confidence in Straus’ leadership and the support for his removal.
Republican parties throughout the State of Texas are demanding their representatives support a change in House leadership. Hidalgo County is the first in the Rio Grande Valley to join them and to call on lawmakers to pass all of Abbott’s special session agenda.
While liberals and moderates in Austin’s political establishment claim that many of Abbott’s twenty reform priorities are too conservative, or unimportant, the vast majority are taken straight out of the Republican Party Platform, as documented by RPT Chairman James Dickey.
