East DFW News

The Republican Party of Texas made the decision last week to switch its State Convention to a remote gathering, a decision that Kaufman County GOP Chairman Jimmy Wheaver said was heavily influenced by Houston politics. 

"We all wanted an in-person convention, but it was made impossible due to local Houston politics," Wheaver said. "We as a party did everything we could to work with Houston, and they just would not allow it to happen. Our party leadership did all they could to meet their demands and they would not support us."

Wheaver said that not having a physical convention works against the Republican Party, but that the setback will only make the GOP more determined to "help President (Donald) Trump win again in November." 

The decision to not have an in-person convention, according to the chairman, was not made on a basis of to wear masks or not; it was strictly political. 

"This call by Houston was to be disruptive and cause chaos, but it has only sent a message for our party to be more unified for victory."

In a news release from the Texas GOP, Republican Party of Texas Chairman James Dickey said that the GOP's State Convention week in Houston was off to a "wonderful start" and that the party "looks forward to continuing their important work in an online convention."

“We thank our incredible team of attorneys for their valiant work exhausting all legal remedies fighting the partisan Democrat shutdown of our in-person State Convention over the last several days," said Dickey. 

The Texas GOP sued the City of Houston over the decision. In legal documents of the Republican Party of Texas v. the City of Houston, the GOP accused Mayor Sylvester Turner of "ignoring the stringent safety measures put in place by the RPT while allowing other public events that were conducted unsafely. Mayor Turner’s crocodile tears reek of ideological viewpoint discrimination."