Republican Party of Texas retains law firm to bar non-members from their primaries

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The Republican Party of Texas is looking to change the way it selects its nominees for elections across the state.

Abraham George, chair of the Republican Party of Texas, said that the party's executive committee has decided to file a lawsuit to challenge the state's open primary system.

"We decided we're going to move forward with filing a lawsuit against the state, because in the 89th session, we had multiple bills that would have done this," George said. "So it's in our best interest, the party's best interest, for us to go to court and get that done now."

Why the Republican Party wants closed primaries

Texas currently has an open primary system, which gives voters the opportunity to vote in either primary when they show up to vote, regardless of their party affiliation. Under this system, someone who typically votes for the Republican candidate in a general election could vote in the Democratic primary, if they wish.

Last year, the Texas GOP changed its bylaws to state that only Republicans can vote in a GOP primary. Under this closed system, voters must register with either the Democratic or Republican Party in order to vote in that party's primary. Some states have semi-closed primaries, where voters who do not affiliate with a party can vote in either primary. Other primary systems include top-two primaries, where the top two candidates advance to the general regardless of their party.

Overall, at least one party conducts an open primary in 20 states, a closed primary in 14 states and a semi-closed primary in 15 states. Three states conduct some variation of a top-two primary.

George said the party wants to pursue closed primaries because it wants to prevent Democrats from being able to vote in a Republican primary and select the "weakest" candidate, hoping to create a favorable general election matchup. He said the nominating process should belong to Republicans, and Republicans only.

He cited the 2024 runoff election for former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, which Phelan won by 366 votes. George said that 2,500 Democrats voted in the Republican primary runoff for that election, helping Phelan, who was the more moderate candidate. There is no definitive way to know how many Democrats voted in the runoff because Texas does not have party registration.

"An average Democrat is not out there looking to pick a Republican on a given day, they are true Democrats. They're going to support a Democrat candidate," George said. "But when it comes to like runoff elections and contest highly contested elections, they move over."

In Texas' open primary system, one can only vote in a primary runoff for the party they chose in the first round. A Democratic primary voter can not vote in a Republican primary runoff unless they voted Republican in the first round or did not vote at all.

'No constitutional justification': Why opponents are weary

The Texas Legislature considered multiple bills this session to change the open primary system, but none of them received a committee hearing. George called the Republicans who did not move forward with that legislation "RINOs," or Republicans-In-Name-Only. With the legislative route stalling, the Texas GOP is now pursuing litigation.

Brian Smith, professor of political science at St. Edwards University, said that there may be risks for the GOP attempting to change the law through the legal system as opposed to by an act of the legislature.

"When you try to change the electoral process through litigation rather than legislation, it's always going to raise questions, especially when one party is controlling so many of the levers of government," Smith said. "But that's why the Republican Party is going with this avenue. They understand that they have very favorable support throughout the state government and the court system."

Smith echoed George's point that an advantage of the closed primary system is that it prevents voters who are independents, or belong to another party from playing spoiler in close races, or from voting to get the weaker candidate.

But Smith also pointed out that voters would need to register with a party ahead of time, and could not make that choice on Election Day, potentially preventing someone from voting in their party's primary if they had previously registered with a different party, or are an independent.

Eric Bronner, founder and chief operating officer of Veterans for All Voters — a nonpartisan group aiming to better the political system on behalf of veterans — is opposed to creating a closed primary system in Texas, saying it would disenfranchise independents.

Bronner said that, according to VAV research, a majority of post-9/11 veterans identify as independents — including the estimated one and a half million veterans in Texas. He also estimated that 61% of voters ages 18 to 24 identify as independents. Bronner said that a closed primary system would take away options for those voters.

"[Veterans] don't want to be forced to join a private political party. As veterans, we swore an oath to defend the Constitution, not a political party, not party leaders, [but] the Constitution, and there is no constitutional justification for closed primary elections," Bronner said.

A closed primary system would not only exclude independents, but may prevent voters from casting a ballot in a primary for heavily partisan areas. Smith said that voters who live in a county or district which votes overwhelmingly for one party will often vote strategically in the dominant party's primary because its winner is very likely to win the general. That route would be tougher under a closed system.

Smith and Bronner both said that in the end, closed primaries typically favor more ideologically extreme candidates.

"We know that closed primaries favor those people who have the most extreme values of either party," Smith said. "The problem is when you elect these candidates in the primary, it makes it harder for them to win in the general election if they don't have a huge partisan advantage in their district."

The lawsuit to change the state's primary system may happen soon — George said the state GOP is hoping to file in the coming weeks or months. He said that the law firm the state GOP hired has a "good relationship" with Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, and he thinks that they can reach an agreement.

Nexstar reached out to the offices of both Paxton and Phelan. Neither replied in time for this story.