I have seen two letters, now, from constituents to Republican Texas House members, urging them to vote for a reform speaker of the Texas House and to vote to support the RPT legislative priority of "No Democrat Chairs."
The first was from an impressive 5 page array of community leaders in Tarrant County to Representative Giovanni Capriglione.
The second was from the Lee County Republican Party and Lee County Conservatives to Representative Stan Gerdes.
Here is the text to Representative Gerdes:
November 15, 2024
Dear Representative Gerdes
Given the strong mandate the people of Texas House District 17, Texas, and the nation have given to you and other Republicans up and down the ballot to implement conservative change, we, conservatives from your district, urge you to vote for a speaker of the Texas House that is committed to reform. At the very least, we are asking you to make it clear to your constituents that you will oppose any candidate for speaker of the Texas House who supports appointing Democrat committee chairs.
As you know, the delegates to the 2024 Republican Party of Texas state convention voted to make “No Democrat Chairs” as its 4th highest priority for this session. While respecting the Democrats’ rightful participation in the process, we view the awarding of chairmanships to Democrats to be a betrayal of your fellow House Republicans, of the Republican Party, and us.
We are also asking for you to commit to electing a Republican Speaker of the House through a Republican caucus election and to oppose any candidate who first courts the support of Democrats.
We believe these commitments are necessary to ensure that any future Speaker of the Texas House represents, and is accountable to, the Republican majority and its principles.
We realize that your top three donors (including the existing speaker) and your most significant patron will be urging you to vote for the status quo and Uniparty leadership, but we urge you to step up to becoming our representative instead of theirs. We note that you have a secret ballot in caucus, which we hope you will cast for reform and liberation from your sponsors. We believe that if you do, you will not need the support of those donors in the future, and that this legislative session and the primary in 2026 will be much more harmonious and productive, as well.
Sincerely,
Lee County Republican Party
Lee County Conservatives