The Texas GOP 2026 Convention was held on June 11-13 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, with the theme of “Strong Roots, Bold Future.”
The convention began with the Republican Party of Texas Chair, Abraham George, giving an assortment of endorsements for his reelection, after which he continued to preside over general sessions upon conceding defeat in the GOP Senate nomination to his former running mate, D’Rinda Randall.
The following day, Governor Greg Abbott spoke at the conference for the first time since 2018, vowing that unity could secure the defeat of the Texas Democratic Party in the November midterm elections.
Speaking to thousands of delegates, Abbott suggested that the party close its primaries to only Republicans, a priority of GOP activists that would require primary voters to register with the party.
He also renewed his call to ban local governments from sending lobbyists to Austin and encouraged the Legislature to adopt his plans for regulating data centers, slashing property taxes and taking a hard line on immigration.
Data centers have become a major issue for the party, with Representative Cody Vasut claiming that he intended to work on legislation that would expand local counties’ authority to regulate the development of data centers.
Such proposals have been causing disagreements between lawmakers who want to curtail local government’s power and members of the Legislature who want to be attuned to residents’ worries and concerns.
Many feel the conflict is now reaching a boiling point, as residents across Texas learn about plans for massive data centers near their homes and head to county commissioners’ hearings to beg local officials to stop the plans.
Taking on data enters puts Texas in the rare position of being at odds with President Trump, who is championing them and has stated he does not support state-level regulation.
During Abbott’s speech, he also addressed a variety of “urgent tasks” he wishes to prioritize for the Texas GOP, including making Harris County red once again, codifying his executive order that froze new H-1B visa applications, and reining in city and county spending.
Additionally, he accused Democrats of supporting Sharia law and called for completely outlawing it and giving the attorney general’s office more authority specifically to address the issue.
This wasn’t the only instance of Sharia law being addressed, as Delegates Amjad Muhtaseb, Samar Halabi, and Tarek Hussein got into a heated exchange with Representative Brent Money over religion at the booth for the new “Sharia-Free Texas Caucus.”
The party tried to remove Muhtaseb and Hussein as delegates due to their ties to the Council of American-Islamic Relations, which is the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights group and has been declared a terrorist organization by the government.
The convention could not lawfully remove them, though George did encourage them to depart, stating, “You know where the entire body stands. I would strongly advise you to leave our caucus. There is a Democrat convention happening in a couple of weeks. Join them.”
Also on the day of Abbott’s speech, House Speaker Dustin Burrows made history by taking the stage to address delegates, making him the only sitting speaker to ever do this.
He was immediately mocked for this action, and after stating that he meant to keep his speech short, was answered with a shout of “thank you” from an unknown member of the crowd.
While this was taking place, a few dozen people gathered in a conference room for a presentation by a group that opposes Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which is the biggest donor in Texas politics that advocates for tort reform measures.
The new organization, calling itself Republicans Against TLR, focused on the contributions Texas for Lawsuit Reform had made to Democrats over the years and critiqued legislation boosted by the group.
As the last notable occurrence during the convention, the delegates sought to edit the party platform’s statement of beliefs.
Amendments were made to support the expansion of school vouchers, challenge court precedent that grants undocumented students the right to free public education and propose a variety of solutions to Republican concerns about Islam.
The platform now confirms that they believe public schools should teach that Sharia law is “incompatible with the U.S. Constitution, that schools and businesses should not be required to provide time for prayer multiple times a day, and that no laws should be passed requiring schools to serve halal food or other cuisines in accordance with religious dietary practices.
Much to the contrary of the separation of church and state ethos, the platform was amended to reaffirm conservative Christian values that have defined the Texas GOP’s biggest victories in recent years, including displaying the Ten Commandments in public schools and allowing a prayer time for Christian students.