The Texas Republican Party Convention Process Made Easy!

Every part of the Republican platform all begins with a simple idea shared around a table … which becomes a written resolution … which then gets voted on by your neighbors … which combines with like-minded resolutions at the county level within Senate districts … which becomes a hot topic at a state convention committee … and which finally makes its way to the floor of the Republican Party of Texas convention for inclusion in the final draft of the next platform.

Conventions also elect party officers, set rules for state and local parties, connect Republicans, provide a showcase of supplies, merchandise, and services for the grassroots, and give our candidates the boost they need to win big in November.

Our Republican convention season is a four-step process:

Step 1:  Precinct convention — Neighborhood and local based on voting precincts.

Step 2:  County/SD convention — Every Senate District in a county will meet for these, either at one locaton or in separate locations.

Step 3:  State convention — Texas has the largest gathering of Republicans in the world every two years in different major ciites across Texas.

Step 4:  National convention (every four years) — This is the big one where the President and Vice President are nominated.

Now let’s take a closer look at each level:

After voting in the Republican Primary election, local voting precincts are the key to the grassroots organization of the party. 

Precinct Conventions traditionally take place in our neighborhoods at our local polling locations after the primary election or on the following Saturday (Travis County will meet on Saturday again this year). 

Precinct Conventions select delegates to the senatorial district (or county) convention and pass resolutions to the senatorial district convention that begin to develop our Republican Platform. Only those who voted in the Republican Primary may vote or qualify for being a delegate or alternate delegate.

Resolutions presented are the building blocks for the state platform. Examples of topics may include abolishing the IRS, strengthening pro-life laws, or supporting our police. Learn how to write a Resolution here.

Both state law and the Republican Party rules allow for each county Executive Committee to select the date, time, and location for the Precinct Conventions in even-numbered years for a date between the Primary and the county/senatorial district conventions. For more information about your local primary convention, please see a list of Precinct Chairmen you may contact at: http://www.traviscountygop.org/get-involved/be-a-precinct-chair.html. Find a list of them at http://www.traviscountygop.org/conventions.

If no one is currently representing your Precinct (your precinct number is located on your Voter Registration card or visit VoteTexas.gov), please consider applying! If you have no chairman present at your precinct convention, and if you are the first to pick up the packet of information provided for the chairman, then YOU may organize your own precinct convention! Just follow the instructions given to you. 

Now let’s take a look at your SD conventions — sometimes also referred to as “county convention” …

Travis County includes parts of three Senate Districts (SDs 14, 21, and 25).  Each of these districts must have separate senatorial district conventions (sometimes known collectively as "the county convention"). SD 14 is by far the largest such gathering.

Republican Party of Texas rules allow for a shared facility within a county with the approval of the precinct chairs, but each convention must remain organizationally separate. The Travis County Republican Party has held both separate and unified convention sites in previous years.

Much work goes into these conventions by the "temporary committees." Here is what the temporary committees do in advance of the "permanent" business of the SD convention:

Credentials committee: Determines the eligibility and hears contests of those submitted to be delegates to the SD convention. They will recommend a Permanent Roll of delegates of the Convention.

Rules committee: Determines the rules that will apply to the SD convention.

Resolutions committee: Reviews the resolutions that were passed in Precinct Conventions. This committee will condense similar resolutions, hear defense of resolutions, or reject resolutions. Resolutions are still allowed for submission from the SD Convention floor subject to convention rules, but by providing a single report much time and effort is saved.

Nominations committee: Makes nominations to the Permanent Nominations Committee that will determine the delegates that may go on to the state convention, which we’ll discuss next …

Delegates to the Republican Party of Texas Convention (also called the RPT Convention, Texas GOP Convention, or state convention) are selected at the Senatorial District conventions. 

Only Delegates and Alternate Delegates chosen by the Travis County Senatorial District conventions may vote in the RPT Convention, though Guest, VIP, and Vendor passes are available for non-delegates.

Delegates to the state convention are expected to:

• Elect a state party Chairman and Vice Chairman

• Elect members to serve on the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC)

• Adopt a party platform

• Elect a slate of National Convention delegates and alternates (only in presidential election years)

• Participate in special, optional activities such as prayer rally, straw poll, community outreaches, etc.

For more information see the convention's web site at: http://www.texasgop.org/convention

Every four years during Presidential election years there’s one more level: National Convention, also referred to as “RNC …”

Delegates to the Republican National Convention (or RNC) perform a few important functions:

• Vote on the rules under which the convention will operate, and under which the party will operate until the next convention.

• Vote on the national party platform.

• Vote to elect the party’s nominee in the race for President of the United States.

In most convention years the first and second of those duties are the most contentious and the nomination is more or less pre-determined. 

Being a Delegate or Alternate requires a commitment of several days to a week at the convention. Serving can be an expensive undertaking! There is no fee for Delegates for attending the convention, but there are significant other costs. Delegates and Alternates pay all their own expenses for travel to and from the convention. They also pay hotel and food costs. For security and coordination reasons it’s almost mandatory that all delegation members stay in the same hotel – and those aren’t inexpensive.

Anyone considering being a Delegate or Alternate should be prepared for costs of $1,500-$3,000 for the week. Carpooling to/from the convention and sharing a room would put you on the low end of that range, assuming you can find another Delegate or Alternate from the same state interested in sharing.

From Texas, there are two paths to becoming a Delegate to the Republican National Convention:

OPTION 1 – BE APPOINTED BY THE NATIONAL NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE

The 200-300 or so Delegates present at the Texas GOP state convention in each of the Congressional Districts elect one representative to be on the National Nominations Committee. Those 34 elected representatives and the Chair, appointed by the Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, review applications from anyone who wants to be considered for appointment to be an At-Large Delegate or Alternate to the Republican National Convention.

After many hours of reviewing applications, listening to interviews, and voting, the National Nominations Committee produce a recommended slate of 44 At-Large Delegates (and a matching number of Alternates). There are also 3 mandatory delegates (the Texas GOP Chairman, National Committeeman and National Committeewoman, who are all elected by the delegates at the convention).

The list of At-Large Delegates and Alternates is then presented to the state convention delegates for a vote. I am unaware of any time in recent history when the list was not approved as submitted.

The only requirement to be an At-Large Delegate or Alternate is that you be a Texas resident and registered voter and have voted in the most recent Texas Republican party primary. Given the small number of spots available, though, most open At-Large positions are awarded to elected state officials and/or heads of conservative interest/action groups.

(For example: In 2016 on the first ballot the votes of the majority of the At-Large Delegates were committed to Ted Cruz, with the remaining going to Donald Trump. On the second ballot they were able to switch those votes between those two. On the third and subsequent ballots they were able to vote for anyone they wished.)

OPTION 2 – BE ELECTED BY THE DELEGATES IN YOUR CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

In addition to electing a representative on the National Nominations Committee, the 200-300 or so Delegates present at the Texas GOP state convention in each of the Congressional Districts elect three Delegates (and three Alternates) to represent the District at the National Convention.

(For example: In 2016 the state rules and voting results meant that in most of the Congressional Districts two of the three Delegates –- on the first ballot –- were committed to Ted Cruz, while the remaining went to Donald Trump. In a few Congressional Districts there was a single Delegate committed to Marco Rubio. On the second ballot all of the Delegates chose between either Donald Trump or Ted Cruz. On the third and subsequent ballots all of the Delegates voted for anyone they wished.)

Anyone interested in running may be nominated from the floor of the Congressional District caucus. After nominations are closed, elections begin for each of the National Delegate slots and each candidate is offered some time to address the caucus and make a case for why they should be selected over the other candidates for the spot. The secret ballot results are counted and the winner is named. Then the process is repeated for the remaining Delegate and Alternate spots.

Some people elected as National Delegate are so well known and loved across their Congressional District that they simply appear at the caucus, state their interest, someone nominates them, and they win the vote.

The opposite extreme is the full-blown campaign. In this case the candidate has called every member of their Congressional District caucus to ask for their vote, has mailed multi-color brochures on their qualifications to each member, had multiple nomination speeches presented on their behalf, distributed flyers at the caucus, etc.

In the past, interest groups have coordinated efforts, making sure their preferred candidates never compete against each other. This coordination has even taken the form of synchronized text messages with voting suggestions during the caucus election process.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The likelihood of any one person becoming a Delegate to the Republican National Convention is very small. From up to 10,000 Texas GOP state convention Delegates and Alternates, around 150 will be elected.

The odds of success vary substantially according to who else is in the same Congressional District.

Still, it’s an open process, and like the rest of the Texas GOP organization, it’s built from the ground up. If you’re committed and can make the case for why you should be one of the very few, go for it!

(Thanks to Texas GOP Chairman James Dickey for providing us his view on the national convention process as a Delegate.)

Official national convention information: http://convention.gop

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