While a Democrat activist’s case against the Tarrant County GOP progresses through the courts, the Texas Supreme Court has stayed a lower court ruling that prohibited the party from filling the contested precinct chair position.
The ruling comes after an appeals court in Amarillo ruled that the local Republican party could not fill the vacancy until the court resolved a related appeal.
“Filling the purported vacancy in precinct 4230 with someone other than Rector pending disposition of the appeal could harm Rector, given his apparent victory in the election for the seat,” the appeals court judges wrote in their decision.
The party petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to overturn the decision—arguing that it violated the party’s First Amendment right to freedom of association.
During the March Republican primary election, Chris Rector won a Tarrant County precinct election against a write-in opponent. Precinct chairs are members of their county party’s executive committee, which assists in governing the local party.
However, Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French declared that Rector was administratively ineligible for the position after discovering his affiliation with the Democrat Party. Rector ran as a Democrat candidate for the Texas House of Representatives in 2022 and the U.S. House in 2024.
Rector had also made statements that he was only “pretending to be a Republican” and sought to dissolve the Republican party and ban Republican groups in Tarrant County.
In response, Rector decided to sue French and the Tarrant County GOP.
The lawsuit has gone to multiple courts, but the latest ruling from the Texas Supreme Court stayed a decision by the Amarillo Court of Appeals. As a result, the Tarrant County GOP may fill its vacant precinct chair seat without court interference. Yet, Rector’s underlying contest and a related appeal over whether or not the Party is entitled to attorneys’ fees remain pending.
French posted on X that the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling was correct.
“Democrats will lie, cheat and steal. In this case, they tried using lawfare to destroy our party. I will do whatever it takes to stop them,” French wrote. “The Texas Supreme Court ruled correctly here. Now we can get busy doing the business of the party.”
Tony McDonald—one of the attorneys representing French and Tarrant County GOP—told Texas Scorecard they will continue to fight the case.
“It is unfortunate that we have been required to take this matter to the Supreme Court,” said McDonald. “However we will fight at every level necessary to defend the First Amendment rights of Tarrant County Republicans.”
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