An open race for the Texas GOP chair may be shaping up as a classic confrontation between RINOs and right wingers after veteran Austin activist Matt Mackowiak's belated emergence on Friday as a candidate for the job that delegates will fill next week at the state party convention in San Antonio.
"I’m running for @TexasGOP chair to save Texas, help @realDonaldTrump save America, re-elect @tedcruz, raise money and advance our conservative platform and priorities," Mackowiak said in a post on X.
Mackowiak - the current Travis County Republican Party chairman - entered an already-crowded pool of competitors for the leadership post that state chair Matt Rinaldi is giving up without a bid for another term. Rinaldi is backing former Collin County GOP chairman Abraham George for state chair in a battle that includes the party's current vice-chair Dana Myers, Ben Armenta, Mike Garcia and Weston Martinez in a field that could grow before the candidates make their cases to delegates on Thursday when the GOP confab gets under way in the Alamo City.
Mackowiak appears to be a top-tier contender based on Rinaldi's stinging assessment of his campaign for state chairman. Rinaldi left little doubt that he views Mackowiak as a threat to George, who entered the race after an unsuccessful attempt to oust State Rep. Candy Noble of Lucas in the primary election in March.
"Matt Mackowiak is best known as a grifter and a self promoter," Rinaldi said in a statement to the conservative publication The Texan. "And he ran the Travis County Republican Party in the ground. He talks about the party finances which are good but he couldn't even pay as $1,000 a month rent for nine months and had the Travis County Republican Party in debt. And perhaps he's best known for his profanity laced tirade, threatening the only Republican female city council member and often so he's an absolutely unacceptable candidate."
The outgoing state party boss was referring to a telephone conversation three years ago when Austin City Council member Mackenzie Kelly claimed to have been threatened and bullied by Mackowiak. But Mackowiak appeared to hit the first nerve today when he suggested that the state GOP had been on the decline in recent years.
“The Republican Party of Texas has never been weaker as an organization," Mackowiak said in an interview with Dallas radio show host Mark Davis. "At RPT, our job is to pass a platform and legislative priorities that reflect the grassroots. Then fight like hell to get as much of that done as we can to recruit candidates to raise money and then to win an election.”
Myers launched a race for state chair before Rinaldi revealed that he wouldn't seek another term. But George appeared to be the betting favorite as Rinaldi's handpicked replacement when he entered the competition shortly after falling short in House District 89 when Noble beat him by 5 points with almost 53 percent of the vote in March.
George, who immigrated to the U.S. from India as a teenager, scored endorsements from Attorney General Ken Paxton for the House race and state chair campaign as well. George suffered a public relations setback with revelations that the police were called to his home in Plano last year when he reportedly pulled a gun on his wife's alleged lover. But George appeared to keep the core base on the hard right intact despite some unflattering publicity.
Garcia
could split conservative support from George with an list of endorsements that includes State Senator Mayes Middleton of Galveston and State Reps. Matt Schaefer of Tyler and Valoree Swanson of Spring. Schaefer and Swanson were both charter Texas Freedom Caucus members. Garcia served as the caucus executive director before a stint as the chief of staff to State Senator Kevin Sparks of Midland.
Garcia - in sharp contrast to George - has a shot at some moderate appeal as well with State Reps. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City,
Richard Hayes of Plano and Charles Cunningham of Houston backing his bid to lead the Texas GOP. Garcia also has the Texas Right to Life PAC in his corner as a conservative resume bullet point.
The Texas Republican Party leadership contest has been a reunion of sorts for three of the current competitors. Martinez and Armenta finished in sixth and eighth place in the 2022 GOP primary election for land commissioner with 7 percent and 3 percent of the vote respectively. Myers' husband - Jon Spiers - missed out on a runoff in the land boss battle when he placed third with 13 percent.
Martinez lost races for Bexar County commissioner in 2020 and Texas Railroad Commission in 2018 and 2016.
more to come ...
