Texas Conservatives Revolt Against Republican Incumbents in 2020
Jose Nino
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Grassroots conservative leaders in Texas are angry.
According to a report from Texas Scorecard, Northeast Tarrant Tea Party leader Julie White McCarty said she nor NETTP will help with any incumbent elected official’s re-election campaigns.
In a Facebook post she cited their poor performance during the 2019 legislative session as the reason behind this move.
She wrote in the post, that “There will be no Shark Tank. I will not personally campaign nor lead NETTP to campaign for any re-election. Not worth my time when the returns yield nothing. Open to new candidates but I’ll be pretty picky”
According to McCarty, Shark Tank is a one-day event that she and other grassroots activists have been organizing during the past two election cycles. This event aims to find new candidates for the Texas House who meet grassroots conservatives’ criteria. McCarty claims that Shark Tank raised $200,000 in the first year the event was held and then it was able to raise over $500,000 in its second year in action. However, no money will be raised in this upcoming election cycle.
McCarty expanded on why she does not want to be involved with Shark Tank:
I don’t want to put my name, or the tea party’s name, behind a bunch of candidates … and then when they get to Austin, they’re like, ‘Okay, sit down and shut up, because we know better than you.
When asked to give her assessment of the 2019 legislative session, McCarty bluntly responded: “We got nothing.”
She listed election reform and property taxes as the two issues she was most disappointed about.
McCarty argues that Republican control of both chambers of the State Legislature is dwindling.
This was probably our last chance to have a strong Republican head count, and we blew it. We twiddled it away, and next session will be even harder because our numbers will be even lower.
She ominously added:
“The writing’s on the wall. We’re going to lose Texas.”
BLP reached out to Texas Gun Rights Executive Director Chris McNutt, who was victim of a vicious Fake News campaign during the last stretch of the legislation.
After Constitutional Carry was killed due to House Speaker Bonnen’s gatekeeping antics, grassroots activists were left with a bitter taste in their mouths. McNutt included.
McNutt told BLP that “Speaker Bonnen is drunk on power”
GOP politicians can’t afford to rest on their laurels.
With Democrats more emboldened than ever after Beto’s surprising 2018 performance and Texas’s changing demographics, Texas politics could potentially witness a shift in the next decade or so.
However, Young Americans for Liberty’s decision to move down to Texas could give the grassroots conservative movement a second wind during the 2020 election season.
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