At a convention where several of its more prominent lawmakers were harassed and booed, the Texas Republican Party has passed the latest version of its official platform – and it makes for shocking reading.
The platform is not a specific programme of legislation, and just because the party has passed it does not mean all or even most of its provisions will be passed into state law, regardless of the fact that Texas currently has a Republican governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and state legislature.
However, the hardline nature of the platform is nonetheless indicative of where the state’s Republican base stands. And at a time where enthusiasm among more moderate voters of both parties is sagging, these voters could play a disproportionate role in deciding who holds power – especially in lower-level offices that wield substantial influence over many Texans’ everyday lives.
The whole platform is worth reading, but here are five of its most striking statements of intent.
Denying the 2020 election
Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” of a stolen election in 2020 is still widely believed among the conservative grassroots. In primaries across the US, Republicans are nominating candidates who still propagate it to this day. (To take one particularly dark example, Pennsylvania’s GOP nominee for governor, Doug Mastriano, attended the 6 January riot.)
In case there was any doubt where Texas’s organised Republicans stand, they have included in their platform the following resolution: