Rule 44 of The Texas Republican Party says that an officeholder can be censured for going against the party's core principles or legislative priorities. This stated in the “Rules of the Republican Party of Texas.”
Texas Standard reports that conservative Republicans are concerned about this rule that was passed in 2024 because it give too much control of the primary elections to party leaders.
The article quotes Robert Downen, who reports on Texas politics, regarding the Texas GOP, saying the party has “allowed a group of people that are pretty to the far right to really consolidate power and pass through a bunch of different measures that would therefore make it easier for them to purge dissent from the party.”
Christin Bentley, member of the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC), says a censure is a redress of government.
"We are right now receiving a lot of censures on Republicans with precinct chairs censuring them at the county level. They want the Republican Party of Texas to concur with their censures. So, it is them who are making a statement of what they have a problem with in their representative or senator," says Bentley.
She said a censure resolution can be given if an officeholder takes a position contrary to the Republican Party. An example is school choice, which the party supports. She said another is giving democrats a spot on committees.
"This whole vice chairmanship that was given to Democrats. Because one of our priorities was to ban Democrat chairs, and so the party's position on that is that vice chairmanships also are a violation of our legislative priority," states Bentley.
She said the most extreme consequence of a censure passed at the state party level would keep an officeholder from running on the Republican primary ticket.
