HOUSTON — Two years ago, the Texas GOP held its state convention in the throes of a ruthless primary fight aimed at ousting the Republican House speaker and more moderate lawmakers. This year, as the party braces for a tough midterm, delegates will gather in Houston under a historically unified spirit.
After years of a strained relationship between Greg Abbott and the Texas GOP, the governor has emerged as a key sponsor of the event. Dustin Burrows, after presiding over a wave of conservative wins in his first term leading the House, will be the first sitting speaker to address the convention. And party leaders are lining up behind Abraham George in his reelection bid to continue chairing the party.
It's a stark change from the Texas GOP of years past. In just the last five years, one party chair resigned to primary Abbott, another endorsed against then-House Speaker Dade Phelan, convention attendees booed U.S. Sen. John Cornyn and as recently as last year, George entertained censuring GOP lawmakers who voted for Burrows.
With Attorney General Ken Paxton's defeat of Cornyn in the primary runoff two weeks ago, party leaders hope to have allies in the governor's mansion, atop the speaker's dais and in Cornyn's Senate seat next year, passing a new batch of conservative priorities approved by convention delegates this week.
That's if Republicans can hold the line against Democrats in November. Paxton, Abbott, Burrows and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick are scheduled to address the convention Friday. The subtext of their united front, spelled out in warnings from Patrick and others in recent months, is that Republicans need to shelve lingering grudges and support the entire ticket.
One of the biggest lingering intraparty feuds dissolved last week when Secretary of State Jane Nelson, an Abbott appointee who opposed the Texas GOP goal of closing its primaries, leading the party to sue her in federal court, announced she is resigning her post in five weeks.
In a statement to The Texas Tribune, George noted that the governor, lieutenant governor and House speaker — the "Big Three" of state government — and many other elected officials and candidates are partnering with the conservative grassroots to put on the convention.
"Since becoming Chairman, one of my top priorities has been uniting every corner of the Republican Party of Texas to fight and win the 2026 midterms," George said. "This convention has been a major step toward that goal."
Yet, the undercurrents that brought the Texas GOP civil war to a boiling point in 2024 have carried through, albeit more quietly, among some of the party's rank-and-file activists. The party rules, platform and legislative priorities adopted at the convention will set the tone for next year's legislative session, helping determine whether the party will partner with GOP lawmakers on policy goals or reprise its heckler role on the fringes of Texas politics.
The Abbott and Burrows redemption arcs
The shift in the Texas GOP's messaging comes after Abbott and the Burrows-led Texas House pried loose longtime party priorities that had gotten stuck in the lower chamber, sometimes for years on end after sailing session after session through the Patrick-led Senate.
For Abbott, it was the culmination of a multiyear arc dating back to his pandemic lockdown measures, which led to a fraying of his relations with the Texas GOP and his reputation among the hardcore activists who form the state party's backbone. But after weathering attacks from the right in his 2022 primary, Abbott became a leading foil to President Joe Biden on immigration, revving up his Operation Lone Star border crackdown as the GOP base was fuming over a record spike in illegal immigration.
The governor also took ownership of a longtime conservative goal, private school vouchers, then launched a campaign to oust the House Republicans who thwarted it in 2023. By the end of the runoffs the following year, Abbott helped flip enough seats to secure the bill, which passed with all but two GOP members voting in favor.
The governor's primary warpath won him extra goodwill among the grassroots by ushering in an insurgent freshman class that, beyond supporting vouchers, had run on shaking up the Capitol and steering the House rightward, setting the stage for stalled priorities — like restrictions on foreign land purchases — to reach Abbott's desk.
Burrows' relations with the state party started from an even deeper pit than Abbott's. The Lubbock Republican won the speakership in January 2025 by banding with Democrats to defeat the House GOP caucus' pick, carrying on a practice of courting the minority party dating back to former Speaker Joe Straus' election in 2009. The GOP grassroots, after years of frustration with the San Antonio moderate and his lieutenants for stonewalling certain right-wing bills, feared more of the same from Burrows.
The abrupt path to redemption for Burrows and the House began when the chamber passed the voucher bill in late April 2025. Then the avalanche of GOP priorities followed.
Burrows' rapprochement with the Texas GOP started coming into focus over the summer, while House Democrats camped out across the country to stall Republican-drawn congressional maps. In the meantime, the Texas GOP's governing board met in the state Capitol to draft a report intended to outline Republican members' transgressions against the party and its legislative priorities.
The morning of that meeting, Abbott brought the party leaders together with Burrows at the Governor's Mansion, marking the two sides' first meeting since Burrows took over the gavel. There, mere weeks after he had dismissed George as "not worth responding to," the speaker discussed the conservative bills passed in the first half of the year and the state's efforts to corral the absconding members.
"We have an open line with the speaker," George told the Tribune after the meeting. "You don't have to agree all the time. We probably are still going to have some disagreements. That's part of the process."
When the Democrats finally returned to Austin, the Legislature passed the congressional maps and capped off the year with a final batch of GOP wins: a bill to crack down on the manufacturing and distribution of abortion pills and legislation — once allegedly opposed by Abbott — restricting which restrooms transgender people can use in government buildings and schools.
The "bathroom bill," as it was known, began its journey through the Legislature 10 years prior, once forming a major fissure between Texas Republican leaders before ending up as one of last year's marquee wins for conservatives.
Despite this year's unity push, some grassroots activists maintain it was the party's threats to ban House Republicans from the 2026 primary ballot, should they run afoul of party principles, that pressured Burrows and the chamber into action.
Former Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi, who oversaw the introduction of that mechanism, said it "definitely helped" move the needle. So, too, did the party structure that allows the grassroots to set the legislative priorities that lawmakers can be censured for defying.
"If the Republican Party is just a cheerleading society for elected officials in general elections, they're not an institution of power, and that's the case in virtually every other state," Rinaldi said in an interview with The Texas Tribune. "But here in Texas, it is a center of power, and they have a seat at the table."
Corporate dollars start to flow again
The Republican Party of Texas is the state's affiliate of the national party, organized to elect Republican officials and enact conservative policies — the latter increasingly coming to the fore in the last 10 years. But some Republican lawmakers view the state party as a band of far-right activists who use the party label and institution to browbeat Republicans who don't tout the party's brand of conservatism.
When the last GOP convention rolled around in 2024, the party's finances were in their worst shape since 2017, with party leaders having alienated traditional corporate donors through their activism, including then-Chair Rinaldi's attacks on House leadership and his dismissal of calls for the party to distance itself from an influential GOP group, Defend Texas Liberty PAC, with ties to white supremacists. In those donors' places, the party increasingly relied on contributions from Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, the West Texas oil barons who funded Defend Texas Liberty and used it as their latest means of financing political opposition to more moderate House Republicans. Dunn-associated groups continue to be some of the party's top donors, the Texas GOP's latest campaign finance filings show.
With the 2026 convention coming to Houston, event finances threatened to again become a headache for the party.
Christin Bentley, a retiring member of the State Republican Executive Committee, emailed fellow members of the party governing board earlier this week alleging that the party was taking a $651,000 loss to run the convention. In a response on Wednesday morning, George said the deficit was currently closer to $100,000.
"When you factor in the registrations that will be paid over the next couple of days, that budget shortfall will not only be covered but we will turn a profit," he wrote.
The George R. Brown Convention Center, the site of this week's gathering, is one of the most expensive venues available to the party, located in the heart of downtown in a city that's more than 600 miles away for some attendees. Adding to the potential costs for attendees is the convention's timing, coming as global soccer fans arrive for the World Cup, with games beginning in Houston the day after the convention wraps.
Helping allay the financial burden on the party and attendees, Abbott's campaign gave $150,000 to the state GOP in March, according to campaign finance reports, one of the party's largest ever convention sponsorships by an elected official. In addition, Burrows gave $50,000, while Patrick gave $75,000. Other sponsoring electeds have kicked in as much as $50,000 each.
The Abbott campaign is also subsidizing tickets and lodging for some senior and young adult attendees, organizing cross-state buses and establishing an incentive program for county parties to fill their allotted delegate seats.
Abbott's campaign declined to put a number on his overall contribution, but George told the conservative site Texas Scorecard in February that the governor was pitching in $2 million to fund or subsidize various convention programs. Abbott's contributions, George told the party executive committee that same month, could help bring back corporate donors that hadn't supported the convention in 10 to 12 years.
"Some of the major corporate sponsors are now thinking they can come back when they hear the governor is the top sponsor," George said. "They like to be nice to the governor and I guess they want to be part of that."
As of Wednesday, George said the party had raised $1.3 million through the convention, nearly offsetting the cost of running it and more than the $900,000 brought in at the last convention.
Campaign finance reports later this year will reveal the complete sponsorship picture, but current backers include the Associated Builders and Contractors, and American Energy Works, an advocacy group linked to energy executive and former state Rep. Jason Isaac.
Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a perennial convention presence and one-time GOP kingmaker, has stepped up as a top sponsor this year, its first time since at least 2018. The group's rival, the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and a new organization, Republicans Against Texans for Lawsuit Reform, are also sponsoring the event.
However, the party's old top-dollar corporate sponsors don't appear to be making a comeback, with none of the companies who dropped their support named on the convention's public list of backers.
Sponsors at the 2018 convention, the last held in person before Rinaldi took over as chair, included Verizon, Anheuser-Busch, the United States Postal Service, Saulsbury and CenterPoint Energy. The Houston utility provider was one of the few corporate sponsors to remain through Rinaldi's tenure and is among the sponsors again this year.
Rinaldi said the decline of corporate sponsors began at the 2020 convention, a trend he attributed to companies' broader retreat from political activity during President Donald Trump's first term. Notably, sponsors for that year's event, before it moved online, included Comcast, Fenoglio Boot Co., Anheuser-Busch, Charter Communications, the Texas Medical Association, Chevron and other energy companies.
George told the Tribune that, for the first time in years, the party has sold out its convention exhibit hall, where sponsors, conservative media and activists pitch their missions to attendees.
Abbott's convention sponsorship helps bolster his relationship with the party, but the programs to maximize attendance are also an opportunity to convert attendees into committed party organizers — future blockwalkers, phone bankers and campaign volunteers supporting the Republican ticket in November and beyond.
Additionally, the convention dovetails with Abbott's pledge to spend millions bringing Harris County back under Republican control this fall.
In bolstering the party, Abbott is raising it up as a partner to combat the political headwinds of the 2026 election, when Democrats hope their Senate nominee, Austin state Rep. James Talarico, can harness the favorable climate to defeat Paxton. Even a close loss at the top of the ticket could help Democrats narrow Republicans' margin in the state House and limit GOP redistricting gains in Texas — an outcome that could decide the balance of power in Congress.
Abbott campaign spokesperson Eduardo Leal said in a statement that the governor was "proud to support this year's convention and looks forward to joining Texas Republicans as we work together to defeat the radical left from gaining a foothold."
"Unity drives victory, and Republicans across Texas are united on delivering results for Texans and keeping Texas the strongest conservative state in America," Leal said. "Party activists play a critical role in turning out voters, and their grassroots efforts will be essential to success this fall."
Setting the tone
Mere weeks ago, Texas Republicans were locked in a bitter primary battle between Cornyn and Paxton, with Paxton calling the incumbent a Republican-in-name-only career politician and Cornyn labeling his challenger corrupt and a threat to the party's success.
Since Paxton's landslide win, party leaders from Abbott on down have eagerly moved to put the bad blood behind them. Patrick has nominally endorsed the GOP railroad commissioner nominee, Bo French, who the lieutenant governor once called on to resign as Tarrant County GOP chair. And Abbott has broken bread with comptroller nominee Don Huffines, who tried to primary the governor in 2022.
Two years ago, the Republican Party was more focused on beating each other.
The 2024 convention took place the week of early voting in the primary runoffs, days before party activists hoped to oust Phelan from the speakership. In his address to the gathering, Paxton celebrated his political survival after his impeachment by the Phelan-led House and proclaimed the son of Beaumont would "lose not only the speakership but also his House seat."
Although Phelan would survive his runoff by 389 votes, six of his allies lost their runoffs, and by December, Phelan scrapped his bid to retain the House gavel.
During the convention, delegates approved an overhaul of the party's censure process, creating the means to ban incumbents from the next primary ballot if they ran afoul of party principles. Last year, the Texas GOP's governing board censured five House Republicans using the new rule, but, in a tacit reflection of the chamber's rightward turn, stopped short of trying to bar them from the ballot.
With Burrows at the helm, the lower chamber passed more than 40 bills from the state party's list of legislative priorities, more than the Legislature had passed in any of the years since it began compiling the running shortlist.
George, as chair of the party, has warmed up to Burrows, guiding the party through the transformative period. Their relationship began with the party running ads in Burrows' district opposing his election as speaker. But by last October, the first-term GOP chair was trying to balance the relationship between the House, the White House and members of the State Republican Executive Committee.
During deliberations leading up to the censure votes, George warned the governing board that the Trump administration was watching their livestream and that White House officials had "strongly expressed" their opinion on censuring and potentially blocking candidates from the primary ballot. Near the end of the meeting, George briefly cleared the room for Trump political director Matt Brasseaux to speak privately with the executive committee, where he told them the administration did not support gatekeeping ballot access, according to sources in the room.
Since the end of the session, George has been laudatory of Burrows for passing conservative priorities but acknowledged that tension remains. The announcement that Burrows would speak in Houston and sponsor Friday's "Lonestar Liberty Grassroots Club Breakfast" drew mixed reactions, with activists still faulting him for partnering with Democrats to win the gavel.
George, who hopes to be reelected for a second term during the convention, faces a challenge from his current vice chair and former running mate, D'rinda Randall. And it is George's cordial relations with elected leaders that, in part, are animating Randall's supporters, who charge that the incumbent chair has been too welcoming to establishment Republicans.
Randall's running mate is David Covey — the candidate who nearly defeated Phelan in the former speaker's 2024 primary runoff.
Despite his mixed reputation among the party rank and file, Burrows, a former convention delegate and precinct chair, has publicly conveyed his respect for the role played by the state GOP and its local chapters. In a statement to the Tribune, Burrows campaign spokesperson Kim Carmichael said the speaker "will deliver a message of working together to help all Republicans win in the November election."
"These conventions are where it all starts: grassroots conservatives coming together to shape our platform and chart the path forward," Burrows posted on social media after speaking at the Lubbock County GOP Convention in March. "If we want to keep Texas red, we can't take anything for granted. Now more than ever, we must stay united, focused, and ready to fight for the values that make our families, our economy, and our state strong."
But even as Abbott and Burrows make overtures to the party through the convention, some delegates are intent on ensuring elected Republicans continue to toe the party line.
On Monday, convention delegates submitted numerous proposals to expand the ballot banning process, including extending the scope of "censurable offenses" beyond two years and turning the two-year ban into one that would apply for life. Despite lingering discontent from those who unsuccessfully tried to bar members from the 2026 ballot, one by one, the panel tasked with reviewing the party rules batted down nearly every tweak to the measure, including efforts to beef up the punishments.
In testimony the morning after the panel rejected those proposals, outgoing SREC member Paul Hale remained set on holding Republicans accountable for ceding power to Democrats early in the 2025 legislative session.
"Some people need to answer for it. There needs to be accountability," Hale said. "What would these people have to do — how far would they have to go to rouse you enough to want to hold them accountable?"
Disclosure: Anheuser-Busch, CenterPoint Energy, Comcast, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, Texas Medical Association and Texas Trial Lawyers Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.
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