The Texas primary story no one is talking about

The hardline House Freedom Caucus is poised to swell its ranks among Texas members after a successful primary season in which two challengers backed by the group’s political arm won their primaries and a third candidate nearly won outright in a nine-way open race.

Tuesday was an ascendant night for the conservative group — often a thorn in the side of House GOP leadership — and its imprint on Texas’ congressional delegation. The Freedom Caucus could end up doubling the number of Texans on its roster come next Congress, pushing the state’s delegation further to the right and adding reinforcements who appear willing to follow the group’s obstructionist playbook.

Known for its conservative absolutist approach and willingness to defy GOP leaders, the Freedom Caucus encompasses the most right-wing members of the House, typically those who are the loudest advocates for cutting spending and restricting immigration. The group, which currently numbers 30 members, has demonstrated a willingness to take stands by using procedural maneuvers to tank, or at least hold up, Republican-led bills.

Currently, the Freedom Caucus counts four Texans among its ranks. The bloc is set to lose one of its most outspoken members in Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, who amassed considerable power as a member of the House Rules Committee but is forsaking reelection to run for Texas attorney general.

But it stands to gain the membership of state Rep. Steve Toth, who defeated Atascosita Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Freedom Caucus critic. Toth was backed by Freedom Caucus Fund, a political group that brands itself as “the only organization solely dedicated to defending and growing the House Freedom Caucus.” The Conroe Republican, who was a member of the Texas House Freedom Caucus in the Legislature, said he plans to join the U.S. House version.

"I would like to join the Freedom Caucus in D.C., absolutely,” Toth said. “I'm going to be a strong voice. There's wisdom in knowing when you've got to compromise, but there's wisdom in knowing when to stand and fight.”

And two other Freedom Caucus Fund endorsed candidates — gun rights activist and YouTuber Brandon Herrera and conservative attorney Jace Yarbrough — finished first in their respective primaries while advancing to runoffs.

But Herrera will be the Republican nominee in his district after his would-be runoff opponent, Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-San Antonio, dropped out of the race Thursday night. Gonzales’ exit came after the revelation that he had an affair with a staffer who died by suicide last year.

Taken together, Tuesday was a “big night for Freedom Caucus Fund candidates,” said Allison Weisenberger, the executive director of the Freedom Caucus Fund, in a statement to The Texas Tribune.

Taking out Crenshaw was an especially notable coup for the group, given his ongoing feud with Freedom Caucus members. In 2021, Crenshaw said the Republican Party had “grifters in our midst” and noted that then-Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a chief Trump critic on the right, voted in favor of the Trump agenda more frequently than the Freedom Caucus.

He later said that GOP members who in 2023 voted against California Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s speakership — many of whom were members of the House Freedom Caucus — were “terrorists”, though he apologized for doing so.

Weisenberger cast the defeat of Crenshaw — who she labeled a “Republican in Name Only” — as a repudiation of that message.

“Republican voters know the Freedom Caucus to be the conservative conscience of Congress, always fighting to pass President Trump's America First agenda,” Weisenberger said. “On Tuesday, Dan Crenshaw, who called the House Freedom Caucus 'terrorists,' found out the final consequence for being a RINO — defeat at the hands of a Freedom Caucus Fund-endorsed candidate.”

The fourth-term congressman, of course, sees Toth’s win differently. He faulted poor turnout and false attacks on him as the main culprits behind his loss.

Crenshaw said he is worried that Toth’s embrace of obstructionist tactics will result in fewer federal dollars for the Houston-area district. He predicted Toth will oppose funding packages in Congress, a common tactic for Freedom Caucus members upset by spending levels.

“Steve Toth will not get them flood mitigation funding,” Crenshaw said. “He’ll vote against every appropriations bill. And when you’re like that, you don’t get anything for your district. Very similar to his record in the state House.”

The ideological gulf is even wider between Herrera and Gonzales, a more moderate Republican who is a member of the most centrist of the party’s ideological factions, the bipartisan Problem Solvers’ Caucus. Gonzales, like Crenshaw, was not shy about expressing his distaste for some members of the House Freedom Caucus, publicly blasting some of his colleagues as “scumbags” and klansmen at one point. He also spoke out against a hardline immigration bill filed by Roy a few years ago, saying it would have the “anti-American” and “not Christian” effect of, in practice, ending asylum.

Yarbrough, running in a North Texas seat Republicans redrew in a round of mid-decade redistricting to benefit their party, finished far ahead of the field in his primary and nearly reached the 50% threshold to win outright.

In addition, the three incumbent Texan members of the Freedom Caucus who are running for reelection — Reps. Michael Cloud, Brandon Gill and Keith Self — all easily won their primaries.

“We look forward to new members of the Texas delegation in the 120th Congress joining the House Freedom Caucus to fight for conservative American principles and help advance the President’s agenda,” Rep. Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican who chairs the Freedom Caucus, said in a statement.

Primary losses, redistricting and retirements are all set to reshape the Texas delegation next year, with a historic level of turnover coming on the Republican side in particular. The members leaving run the ideological gamut, but their replacements — political newcomers forged in the MAGA-fied primaries that dominate Texas Republican politics today — will likely hew further to the right.

Some conservatives are not initially endorsed by the Freedom Caucus Fund but end up joining the group once in Congress — Self among them. With so many new faces coming to the delegation, the Freedom Caucus’ ranks could end up growing beyond their endorsed candidates.

Jon Bonck, a mortgage broker and Baptist deacon who earned the early endorsement of Sen. Ted Cruz, is seen as a potential ally, according to a source familiar with the caucus. But the fund did not endorse him or spend any money on his behalf.

Bonck finished first in the open primary for Texas’ 38th Congressional District, which includes Houston’s Energy Corridor and the northwest suburbs of Harris County; he narrowly missed out on an outright win and heads into the runoff as the favorite over an opponent, Shelly deZevallos, who trailed him by 28 points, according to unofficial results. Bonck is endorsed by several House Freedom Caucus members, including Gill and founding chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.

One side effect of the hard right’s success in primaries — and the retirements of members — is the wipeout of Texas Republicans who voted to certify the 2020 presidential election.

In 2021, in the hours after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that year, the House voted to certify Joe Biden’s victory over the objections of dozens of Republicans. Of the then-23 House Republicans from Texas, 16 voted against certifying the election results in Pennsylvania. (Fifteen of the 16 — all but Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Irving — voted against certifying Arizona’s electoral votes as well.)

Two Republicans, Reps. Kevin Brady and Kay Granger — both retired now — had COVID-19 and missed the vote.

Crenshaw and Gonzales were among the five Republicans who voted to certify. Of the others, Rep. Van Taylor has since retired, while Roy and Rep. Michael McCaul are leaving at the end of their current terms.

This article first appeared on The Texas Tribune.

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