Republican State Rep. Andrew Murr of Junction has been censured by another county in the house district he represents for “opposing the core principles of the Republican Party.”
Murr represents House District 53, an area northwest of San Antonio that includes the counties of Bandera, Crane, Crockett, Edwards, Kerr, Kimble, Llano, Mason, McCulloch, Medina, Menard, Pecos, Real, Schleicher, Sutton, and Upton.
He also chairs the House General Investigating Committee, which brought the impeachment charges against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton was acquitted by the Texas Senate this past weekend.
Murr said following the acquittal that, “as chairman of the House Board of Managers, I am proud of the case that we presented,” claiming it “demonstrate[d] considerable, uncontested, uncontroverted evidence of Mr. Paxton’s corruption.”
However, the Medina County GOP has censured Murr for his role in the rushed impeachment process, as well as for his vote for House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont), who appointed Democrats to key committee chairmanships in the Texas House. They also highlighted his votes against school choice and for state interference in the political party process.
Another action highlighted by the Medina County GOP was Murr’s vote against Senate Joint Resolution 35, which would have amended the Texas Constitution to require that voters be United States citizens. Murr was excused from the vote to attend a meeting of the general investigating committee but noted in the House journal that he would have voted against the measure—making him the only Republican to vote against it.
The Medina County GOP said this violates Republican principles and the Republican Party of Texas legislative priority of Protecting Our Elections.
“Politicians need to listen to those that elected them and represent the Republican Party Platform without fail,” Medina County GOP Chairman Brian Kanke told Texas Scorecard. “There is a blatant disrespect for the 15,000 delegates that spend their time and money attending the Texas Republican Party Convention to put together the priorities of the party.”
“If you run as a Republican you need to represent your party, not your own interest,” added Kanke. “Their blatant disregard of the 4.2 million plus voters that were the jury and the court of public opinion to put Ken Paxton back in office has cost Texas taxpayers millions of dollars on an impeachment hearing that should have never happened.”
Murr has also been censured by the Bandera County GOP and admonished by the Real County GOP.
Rule 44 of the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) allows the party to censure a Republican officeholder for violating the core principles of the RPT, including the party platform and legislative priorities, three or more times during a biennium.
The Medina County GOP censure requests that the State Republican Executive Committee concur with the resolution and impose the full penalties in Rule 44 upon Murr. These penalties would include disallowing Murr from running as a Republican in the primary election.
Murr did not respond to Texas Scorecard’s request for comment before publication.
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