New GOP Chair Discovers Party in Red
after State Convention it Couldn't Afford
Capitol Inside
June 18, 2026
The Texas GOP convention that featured a live elephant that Governor Greg Abbott brought along proved to be a white elephant for the Republicans who learned on Thursday that the state party is broke as a consequence of the event that it staged in Houston last week.
Fresh off a lopsided victory over the incumbent party chairman who U.S. Senate nominee Ken Paxton touted for another term in the leadership post, newly-elected state GOP Chair D'rinda Randall broke the news on the party's empty coffers on Thursday in a letter to the State Republican Executive Committee. Randall told the governing board's members that the party emerged from the gathering in Houston with a "large deficit" and other financial concerns that she did not identify.
Randall sparked a bigger uproar among Paxton backers when she announced that State Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park had signed on as a member of a temporary legal team. Cain had been a darling on the far right until he voted to impeach Paxton as the state attorney general in 2023 as a member of a Texas House board of managers responsible for his prosecution on charges of public corruption that were linked to an alleged mistress.
After 60 House Republicans supported Paxton's impeachment, the AG was subsequently acquitted by Republicans across the rotunda in a Texas Senate trial. Paxton sought to field primary opposition for the Republicans who voted to impeach him in an effort that was widely referred to as a revenge tour. Cain easily defeated a primary foe who Paxton had recruited with almost 70 percent of the vote in 2024. But Cain fell short late last month in a primary runoff in a redrawn congressional district where Alex Mealer scored the nomination with the help of an endorsement from President Donald Trump.
As Texas Democrats geared for their state convention in Corpus Christi a week from now, Randall said she learned that the state party had run out of money in a meeting with officials at its bank.
The "initial numbers indicate the convention alone resulted in a large deficit" along with concerns that were raised by the Republican Party of Texas treasurers."
Randall's apparent surprise at the dismal fiscal condition may seem curious to SREC members in light of the fact that she'd been the RPT's vice-chair for the past two years under Abraham George, the state chairman who she ousted from the leadership post despite Paxton's push on his behalf.
A former precinct chair and election judge who resides in Waxahachie, Randall gave the impression that she wasn't sure where to begin the process of rebuilding the party's finances from the ground up.
"If you can introduce me to donors or provide opportunities to share our vision for the future for the Republican Party of Texas, I would appreciate it," Randall said. "Restoring our financial strength will require all of us working together."
The Republican state party finds itself with the cash flow problem at a time when Paxton is doing battle with Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, who's left a host of fundraising records in his path after raising more cash for the race at the top of the Texas ticket than any candidate for the U.S. Senate in history.
Paxton - in contrast - had considerably less money than the incumbent Senator John Cornyn before ousting him in a primary runoff election when President Donald Trump's endorsement was all that he needed for an easy win that the state attorney general achieved with 64 percent of the vote.
When the financial activity for Texas GOP's state and federal committees are calculated together, the RPT reported contributions of $2.7 million during the 2026 election cycle's first 16 months compared to $3.5 million that the Texas Democratic Party logged when the state and federal PACs combined.
Randall probably doesn't need to panic - yet. Abbott could bail out the state party and never miss the money as a governor who had more than $96 million in cash on hand in April. Abbott rounded up $2.1 million for his re-election campaign in a single month earlier this year.
If Abbott doesn't feel like he could afford to spend what it would take to the get the Republican Party of Texas back on its financially during what could be the most critical election year here for the GOP in 24 years of Republican rule in the nation's second largest state, Randall might considering hitting up Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick next. Patrick reported a cash surplus of $32 million for his re-election bid in February.
Randall could expect any bailouts the party received from Abbott or Patrick or both to come with strings. In addition to the bad news on the state party's finances, the new GOP state chair told SREC members that activists with whom she communicates are sick of the Republicans being at war against themselves.
"Regardless of region or faction, I hear the same thing; they are tired of the infighting. Republicans want to focus on winning. We know that the infighting only distracts us from that mission. The Democrats would love for us to destroy each other from within. We aren't going to give them that."
The state convention in Houston featured a theme that the governor cooked up - Unity Drives Victory. But the Republicans appeared less united at the gathering than they have during three decades of GOP rule here. A large number of delegates who's apparently backed Cornyn in the Senate runoff refused to stand and cheer when Paxton was speaking in cavernous convention hall.
Party leaders, candidates and activists on the far right sought to pressure several Muslims who'd been elected as delegates to leave the convention hall amid apparently unsubstantiated rumors about ties to terrorist groups. No actual incidents of terrorism were reported at the convention despite the Republicans' fears. But the GOP gathering in Houston has been portrayed on social media as a racist event as a result of the treatment that Muslims were treated there.
The first major sign of a state party that isn't united came with Randall's ouster of George in a stinging blow to Paxton, who'd invested significant capital into his bid for two more years as the state chairman. Randall's victory was all the more embarrassing for the party's U.S. Senate nominee as a consequence of an endorsement that she received from State Senator Angela Paxton, who sued her husband for divorce last year amid allegations of affairs outside their marriage. Paxton the solon ended 2025 with more than 1.2 million in cash reserves as a senator who's not on the ballot this year.
more to come ... | 
