Governor Abbott urges Republican unity at Texas GOP Convention, slams Democratic candidates: "The Austin woke agenda is on the ballot"
Texas Republican leaders repeated their urgent message at the state party's recent convention in Houston: unity drives victory.
Even so, Republicans made a major change in party leadership, selecting Vice Chair D'rinda Randall as their new Chair of the Texas GOP over existing Chairman Abraham George. Paige the Elephant was also brought to the convention in a surprise appearance after Governor Greg Abbott's speech. As she was being escorted around the venue, she stopped to urinate on the floor.
Abbott is seeking a fourth term, and during his speech to attendees, he criticized the top three Democrats on the statewide ballot this fall.
"The Austin woke agenda is on the ballot, literally, because most of the statewide Democrats running for office, they reside in the people's republic of Austin, and they govern like it. Well, that's not Texas. That's California. It's New York. It's Minnesota. But our job is to make sure that does not happen. Our job is to keep Texas, Texas this election."
The governor said he wants to eliminate school property taxes on most homeowners, impose a further crackdown on violent offenders, protect the Texas grid by requiring data centers to generate their own power and water, and ban Sharia law in Texas.
He also reminded Republicans of his record to secure the southern border and took a swipe at Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico.
"I got to tell you, Jimmy Talarico talks about six sexes," Abbott said. I have no idea what six genders Jimmy is talking about. We all know there are only two sexes. There's Jimmy, and there's Janet, and that's all there is."
The Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, Ken Paxton, laid out his vision to convention-goers.
"I'm running to lower your cost of living. I'm running to carry the torch for the America First agenda and pass the SAVE America Act," Paxton said.
Paxton also blasted Talarico and his policies.
"If he wins, I can guarantee you this - he will not represent Texas values in Washington. He'll represent Chuck Schumer. He'll represent the radical trans activists," Paxton said. "He'll represent the national Democrats and the same failed agenda that has crushed communities across America. Texas cannot afford that. America cannot afford that. If we lose Texas, you know what I'm going to say. We will lose America."
After the Texas GOP held its convention, Paxton reportedly confirmed during a tele town hall last week that Republicans will hold a special midterm convention in Dallas in September and that President Trump will speak. Patrick Svitek of CNN quoted Paxton as saying, "I know that we are having the midterm convention in Dallas in September. I know that we anticipate him coming to that and speaking."
A source told CBS News Texas that Republicans have reserved the American Airlines Center for the first two weeks of September, but the RNC has not officially booked the venue just yet.