{"id":859987,"date":"2026-06-11T14:03:23","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:03:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/859987\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T14:03:23","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T14:03:23","slug":"after-divisive-u-s-senate-runoff-texas-republicans-seek-unity-at-state-convention-in-houston-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/859987\/","title":{"rendered":"After divisive U.S. Senate runoff, Texas Republicans seek unity at state convention in Houston \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"Texas<\/a><\/p>\n

Julia Reihs\/KUT<\/p>\n

During the 2026 Republican Party of Texas State Convention, the party will adopt an official platform, decide who will hold important leadership roles, and set the legislative priorities that will guide Texas Republicans over the next two years.<\/p>\n

The runoffs are over. Nominees are set<\/a> for the 2026 midterm election.<\/p>\n

Now, Texas Republicans are cooling their intraparty political attacks<\/a> and turning their attention to November\u2019s general election. That means coming together to unify as a party and defeat Democrats \u2014 just some of the goals for the 2026 Texas Republican Party Convention, which kicks off Thursday in Houston.<\/p>\n

Over three days, the biennial event will host many of Texas\u2019 top GOP leaders, state party officials and delegates, midterm election candidates, and thousands of dedicated Republican voters who are expected to attend from across the state.<\/p>\n

This will be the first big statewide meeting of Texas Republicans since before May\u2019s contentious party runoffs and will give the state GOP a chance to strategize and plan for the coming years.<\/p>\n

But underlying tensions from this year\u2019s primary season are still fresh in Republicans\u2019 minds.<\/p>\n

At the center of that divide was the mudslinging-filled runoff<\/a> for the U.S. Senate between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton. The race \u2014 which Paxton won<\/a> with nearly 64% of the vote \u2014 highlighted a years-long divide<\/a> between the party\u2019s traditional Republicans and growing MAGA base.<\/p>\n

So far this year, the latter faction has come out on top<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMAGA candidates won hands down,\u201d said Nancy Sims, a University of Houston political scientist.<\/p>\n

Can Texas Republicans find their kumbaya moment?<\/p>\n

While the U.S. Senate battle wasn\u2019t the only runoff<\/a> putting some of the state\u2019s Republicans at odds, there isn\u2019t much time to sit with hurt feelings: Election Day is Nov. 3, less than five months away, and current polls show it wouldn\u2019t be impossible for Democrats to flip seats.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s gathering in Houston serves to \u201cpull everyone back together and rally the troops to go out and win the Fall elections,\u201d said Sims.<\/p>\n

In some cases, the post-runoff olive branch has already been extended. One notable example comes from Gov. Greg Abbott and Bo French, the controversial Republican nominee<\/a> for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission.<\/p>\n

Days before polls closed, Gov. Abbott forcefully came out against <\/a>French, even going as far as to say he, \u201cdoesn\u2019t know anything about oil and gas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other top Republicans in Texas are expected to set a similar tone at the convention.<\/p>\n

Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows<\/a> (R-Lubbock) is prepared to \u201cdeliver a message of working together to help all Republicans win in the November election,\u201d said Kimberly Carmichael, the speaker\u2019s communications director, in a statement to The Texas Newsroom.<\/p>\n

What to watch for at this year\u2019s Texas Republican Party Convention <\/p>\n

A large segment of the state\u2019s top Republicans are expected to be in attendance. Besides Burrows, who\u2019s scheduled<\/a> to make a Friday morning appearance, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is hosting an opening night ice cream social. Many more elected officials and midterm candidates will be at the convention, which is taking place at Houston\u2019s George R. Brown Convention Center.<\/p>\n

The event will also feature panel discussions with titles like \u201cDon\u2019t Sharia My Texas,\u201d \u201cThe Playbook to Win\u201d and a \u201cRecover America\u201d panel hosted by the Judeo Christian Caucus.<\/p>\n

But the real meat of the Texas GOP convention is taking care of important party business. That includes selecting people for leadership roles, adopting an official party platform, voting on party rules and setting the legislative priorities that will guide the state\u2019s Republicans for the next two years.<\/p>\n

While all that\u2019s happening, UT-San Antonio political scientist Jon Taylor said there are several key things to keep an eye out for: Fights over party leadership, a push for closed primaries in elections, and calls for further restrictions on reproductive rights.<\/p>\n

After the MAGA wing of Texas Republicans saw sweeping success<\/a> in the primaries and runoffs, both Taylor and Nancy Sims of UH believe the rules \u2014 and party platform \u2014 that come out of this year\u2019s convention will likely steer even more to the right than usual<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That matters because the Texas GOP has controlled state government for decades. And in those decades, when the party has set its sights on a goal, it has a high chance of coming to life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Julia Reihs\/KUT During the 2026 Republican Party of Texas State Convention, the party will adopt an official platform,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":859988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[11103,83920,75910,90,26568,5026,4345,425,50,80,358,140473,350741,3187],"class_list":["post-859987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-dan-patrick","tag-dustin-burrows","tag-election-2026","tag-elections","tag-george-r-brown-convention-center","tag-greg-abbott","tag-houston","tag-local","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-texas","tag-texas-gop","tag-texas-republican-party","tag-tx"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116731851898690854","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}