Attend the Republican State Convention

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Do please consider attending the Texas Republican State Convention in San Antonio on May 23 to 25.  You will want to attend as a delegate so you can have voting privileges.

As a delegate you can vote for:

planks to the Texas GOP party platform,

members to the State Republican Executive Committee,

the Texas delegates to the National GOP Convention,

the Texas representatives to the Republican National Committee (RNC), 

the Texas members of the Electoral College

I think I missed a few items, but you get the idea.  This is important.  We are defining the purpose and leadership of our party.  This is particularly special because it is a Presidential election year.

I will mention that I am running for a spot on the State Republican Executive Committee, running against an incumbent.  I hope to gain your vote for this position, SREC SD8 Committeeman.  You cannot vote for me unless you attend.  I'll tell you more about this in a later email.

Be patient while I explain the process of becoming a delegate. You are elected to be a delegate to the state convention at an earlier convention, an SD convention.  The Senate District (SD) conventions are held on March 23, 2024 Saturday.  Almost all of you will be in SD8, Angela Paxton's district.  A few of you might be in SD2, Bob Hall's District, or SD30, Drew Springer's district.

You are elected to be a delegate to the SD convention at an earlier convention, a precinct  convention, to be held on March 9, 2024 Saturday, after the primary election.  To attend your precinct convention you should vote in the Republican primary.  The Collin County GOP will tell you the location of the precinct conventions and the SD conventions later, but for now you know the date is March 9, which is shortly after the March 5 primary election.

You need to know your precinct number, which is on your registration card.  You just show up at the precinct convention, which is a number of people from your precinct huddled around in a circle of chairs.  You will determine who will be invited to be delegates to the SD Convention.  That is the important part of attending your precinct convention is that you get to go to the next convention as a delegate, your SD convention.

At your precinct convention you can propose planks for our party platform that will be considered at the SD convention.  Additional proposals for party planks can be made at the SD convention.   You will vote at the SD convention for which planks you want to recommend to the state convention.  Also at the SD convention you will vote on who will be delegates to the state convention.

In a nutshell, to attend the state convention you (1) vote in the primary election, (2) attend the precinct convention, and (3) attend the SD convention.  The precinct convention and SD conventions are short.  The precinct convention is a couple of hours long.  The SD convention might be all day, 8 am to 5 pm.  The State convention is 3 days long.  You can go earlier if you want to testify at committee hearings.

Here is the home page for the Republican Party of Texas (RPT) state convention:

https://texasgop.org/2024-state-convention/

Here is more info on the precinct conventions

https://texasgop.org/precinct-conventions/

Here is more info on the SD conventions

https://texasgop.org/countysenatorial-district-convention/

Here is an overview of the process

https://texasgop.org/rpt-conventions/

Don't feel overwhelmed.  If you just show up at the precinct and SD conventions, people will help you through it.  If you do become a delegate to the state convention, I could host some zoom meetings to help you understand the state convention.

Based on past experience, there will be informative films for you at the convention that you might like.  

Here's a story of how we make a difference.  A neighbor went to the precinct convention and proposed a plank, also called a resolution.  It was rejected at the SD convention, but she went to the state convention, gave testimony, and her proposed plank was merged in with another plank so that her efforts improved our party platform.  You can make a difference.  That's what the grassroots is all about, us making a difference.

At the state convention we picked eight (8) planks to make priorities for our legislators and then we watched the legislators and nudged them to get them to listen to us.  And when they don't listen to us, then we have a reason to remove them from office.

This is what grassroots politics is all about: us making our voices heard.

Do please mark these dates on your calendar:

March 9, 2024 Saturday is when we have our precinct conventions
March 23, 2024 Saturday is when we have our SD conventions
May 23 – 25, 2024, is the Texas State Republican Convention at the
Henry B. Gonzales Convention Center in San Antonio, located on the River Walk

Robert