Texas GOP makes election integrity top priority, pass resolution rejecting 2020 election

HOUSTON (CBSDFW.COM) - The Texas GOP says a majority of the nearly 5,000 delegates to their convention in Houston overwhelmingly approved a resolution disputing the results of the 2020 Presidential election.

Without providing any evidence, the delegates said they don't think President Joe Biden won.     

The resolution says, "We believe that the 2020 election violated Article 1 and 2 of the U.S. Constitution, that various secretaries of state illegally circumvented their state legislatures in conducting their elections in multiple ways, including by allowing ballots to be received after November 3, 2020... We reject the certified results of the 2020 Presidential election, and we hold that acting President Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was not legitimately elected by the people of the United States."

Election challenges filed by former President Donald Trump were all rejected by judges.

Delegates to the Republican convention have made election integrity a priority and were given the option to make it one of their legislative priorities for the next session at the Texas Capitol next January. 

The party will announce later this week what the delegates decided. 

Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi said in a statement, "Texas Republicans rightly have no faith in the 2020 election results and we don't care how many times the elites tell us we have to. We've made election integrity a top priority to ensure Texas never goes the way of Pennsylvania, Georgia, or Arizona."

Last year, election bills in Austin generated national headlines when most House Democrats broke quorum and flew to Washington, D.C. in protest, grinding the end of the regular legislative session to a halt.

As a result, Governor Greg Abbott called three special sessions. 

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick told convention delegates Friday that he wants to increase the penalty for voting illegally from a Class A misdemeanor back to a felony.

TCU Political Science Professor Jim Riddlesperger said the Republicans' emphasis on elections integrity will put pressure on both Democrats and Republicans. 

"I think the challenge for both political parties is going to be to turn out the vote, and to do so in such a way that they that their turnout cannot be questioned," Riddlesperger said.

Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa issued a statement saying, "...Texas Republicans showed us that they live in a parallel universe full of conspiracy-fueled hate -- and that they have a truly twisted view of our democracy and Constitution."

On Friday, delegates booed Senator John Cornyn, who has led Senate Republican negotiations with Democrats on potential legislation after the deadly mass shooting in Uvalde.

They also passed a resolution that rejected the "so called bipartisan gun agreement" and rebuked Senators Cornyn and the other nine Republican Senators who took part in the negotiations with Senate Democrats.

Cornyn told delegates that he wouldn't back a bill that infringes on law abiding gun owners. "That's why I take seriously our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms."

Among the other top legislative priorities, abolishing abortion in Texas, protecting the electric grid, and banning gender modification of children.

The party delegates also tentatively passed platform planks that still have to be tallied. 

They include having the legislature eventually replace the property tax system and provide equal legal protection to "all preborn children from the moment of fertilization."

Planks also say homosexuality "is an abnormal lifestyle choice" and that oppose all efforts to "validate transgender identity."

Abbott chose not to address the convention, but instead spoke to supporters at a reception he sponsored nearby.  

Riddlesperger said, "Governor Abbott does not want to expose himself to a kind of negative energy that might hurt his personal brand."

Professor Riddlesperger said historically, the grassroots who attend their party's conventions are far more conservative than other Republicans in the state.

To get elected statewide, he said candidates need to appeal not only to conservatives but also more moderate Republicans and independents.