Candidate filing for the March 5th party primary election opens.
Political party primary season is around the corner with official filing for a place on a party’s ballot opening on 11 November 2023 for the 5 March 2024 primary election. Filing season for a place on a party’s ballot closes on 11 December; these dates have been shifted much earlier in recent years.
To file to run in the Republican Primary you file with your county Republican chairman if the office sought is wholly within one county. If a multi-county district, you file with the state chairman of the Republican Party of Texas.
Many listeners have contacted me with surprise that they are already receiving political mailers and endorsement notices for the 2024 Republican Party of Texas Primary Election.
Groups as diverse as Young Conservatives of Texas and the National Rifle Association are already issuing re-election endorsements for some incumbent state legislators. Many people ask, “How can they endorse if they don’t know who all is running?”
…most organizations always favor an incumbent if that incumbent has rated highly with them; no matter who else runs.
In a nutshell, most organizations always favor an incumbent if that incumbent has rated highly with them; no matter who else runs. It is indeed possible that a state representative, for example, who has voted for all of NRA’s positions could be endorsed by the group even if a far more well-known gun-rights activist and NRA member decided to run for the same position. It is simply a matter of rewarding incumbents for their steady support and not necessarily a negative mark on a challenger. This is common across many politically active organizations, especially single-issue groups.
Phelan mailer | click for large image
And then there are the mailers coming from the embattled Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan promoting many incumbents as History’s greatest, most effective conservatives.
A Speaker is elected by the members of the House and owes his power to those members, not us. What you are seeing in this is an effort by Speaker Phelan to shore up his support amongst allies in the House by spending his plentiful campaign money (you raise a lot when you have the power of the gavel) on those members.
The best thing to remember with the insider mailers from Phelan and others is this: Anyone can list a few big bills that passed and claim such proves great conservative leadership but, it is what is not listed, the failures, defeats, and bills prevented from getting a vote, that often tells the real story.
Anyone can list a few big bills that passed and claim such proves great conservative leadership but, it is what is not listed, the failures, defeats, and bills prevented from getting a vote, that often tells the real story.
Even the most liberal Republicans in the state and in Washington, D.C. often vote for many red meat conservative bills in a legislative session, but that certainly doesn’t make them conservatives or leaders. So beware the claims, and ask yourself how much more could have been accomplished if the legislator supported a speaker and leadership team that actually pushed the mainstream Republican Party agenda as opposed teaming with Democrat legislators to obtain personal power.
Political officeholders who ask for your endorsement to get elected, ask to use the Republican brand on the November General Election ballot, but then refuse to put the Party’s agenda at the head of their legislative efforts are people who use others for personal advancement. They are bums – pick either the American or British use of the word as it applies either way.
Update: Here is a good list of bums to begin with, the 21 putative Republicans who voted to strip education savings accounts from HB 1 (Special Session 4) and turn the bill into a New York, Michigan, or California style handout to the Leftist teacher unions.
Time to take on the political bums in Texas
Candidate filing for the March 5th party primary election opens.
To file to run in the Republican Primary you file with your county Republican chairman if the office sought is wholly within one county. If a multi-county district, you file with the state chairman of the Republican Party of Texas.
Many listeners have contacted me with surprise that they are already receiving political mailers and endorsement notices for the 2024 Republican Party of Texas Primary Election.
Groups as diverse as Young Conservatives of Texas and the National Rifle Association are already issuing re-election endorsements for some incumbent state legislators. Many people ask, “How can they endorse if they don’t know who all is running?”
…most organizations always favor an incumbent if that incumbent has rated highly with them; no matter who else runs.
In a nutshell, most organizations always favor an incumbent if that incumbent has rated highly with them; no matter who else runs. It is indeed possible that a state representative, for example, who has voted for all of NRA’s positions could be endorsed by the group even if a far more well-known gun-rights activist and NRA member decided to run for the same position. It is simply a matter of rewarding incumbents for their steady support and not necessarily a negative mark on a challenger. This is common across many politically active organizations, especially single-issue groups.
Phelan mailer | click for large image
And then there are the mailers coming from the embattled Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan promoting many incumbents as History’s greatest, most effective conservatives.
A Speaker is elected by the members of the House and owes his power to those members, not us. What you are seeing in this is an effort by Speaker Phelan to shore up his support amongst allies in the House by spending his plentiful campaign money (you raise a lot when you have the power of the gavel) on those members.
The best thing to remember with the insider mailers from Phelan and others is this: Anyone can list a few big bills that passed and claim such proves great conservative leadership but, it is what is not listed, the failures, defeats, and bills prevented from getting a vote, that often tells the real story.
Anyone can list a few big bills that passed and claim such proves great conservative leadership but, it is what is not listed, the failures, defeats, and bills prevented from getting a vote, that often tells the real story.
Even the most liberal Republicans in the state and in Washington, D.C. often vote for many red meat conservative bills in a legislative session, but that certainly doesn’t make them conservatives or leaders. So beware the claims, and ask yourself how much more could have been accomplished if the legislator supported a speaker and leadership team that actually pushed the mainstream Republican Party agenda as opposed teaming with Democrat legislators to obtain personal power.
Political officeholders who ask for your endorsement to get elected, ask to use the Republican brand on the November General Election ballot, but then refuse to put the Party’s agenda at the head of their legislative efforts are people who use others for personal advancement. They are bums – pick either the American or British use of the word as it applies either way.
Update: Here is a good list of bums to begin with, the 21 putative Republicans who voted to strip education savings accounts from HB 1 (Special Session 4) and turn the bill into a New York, Michigan, or California style handout to the Leftist teacher unions.