Friday, April 13, 2012

Texas Winner Take All to Be Voted on at GOP State Convention, not Emergency SREC Meeting


The recent controversy of whether or not the Republican Party of Texas will go back “Winner Take All” will not be decided in an Emergency Texas GOP SREC Meeting. The question will be tackled at the June 2012 Texas Republican State Convention in Fort Worth, TX.

The Texas GOP will not be calling an Emergency SREC meeting after many SREC members (including members in favor of Winner Take All) expressed interest in holding off on making the decision until the State Convention. Instead of an Emergency Meeting, the issue of going back to Winner Take All will be given to the Convention Rules Committee and then voted on by the thousands of Republican Delegates and the Texas Republican State Convention.

I, along with the current and former Texas GOP Chairmen, am for Winner Take All. Texas has always been Winner Take All and it is something that has been voted on by the thousands of grassroots Republican delegates at the Last State Convention and past State Conventions. It is a system that allows Texas to have a bigger voice in the Presidential Race instead of being irrelevant in the Presidential Race, like we are this year. The only reason Texas went to proportional from Winner Take All was because the SREC was forced by the RNC to go to proportional because we were having a pre April Primary Election. Now that our Primary will be well after April, we should go back to Winner Take all because that is what the Delegates at the State Convention voted on. Who are we (62 SREC members) to defy the decision of Texas Republicans?

To make things easy and less confusing, I am not advocating for any drastic changes. I just want to go back to our old Texas Winner Take All system that Texas Republicans know and have voted to have. Our old Texas Winner Take All was not a true Winner Take All. It is a very good “modified” Winner Take All that is based on local level Congressional Districts. Basically, if you win a Congressional District you get the Republican Presidential delegates from that Congressional District. So it is a “winner take all” system because a candidate can win all the delegates in Texas, but it is actually fair and better than proportional because it allows the local Congressional Districts the ability to have a voice.

I would have liked the SREC to go ahead and have the emergency meeting to go back to our old Winner Take All system. We have the 15 members needed to call the meeting and we probably have the votes needed to change back. We already know Winner Take All is what the Republican Delegates in Texas want because that is what they voted on at the last convention. I guess I am one of those “remember the Alamo”
Although I would like to go back to Winner Take All NOW in an Emergency Meeting while there is still time to work out any kinks, I am satisfied with holding off and bringing the issue at the State Convention for the Republican Delegates to vote on.

My push to go back to Winner Take All instead of being bullied into proportional does not end here now that there will not be a meeting. My push for Winner Take All will continue until the State Convention. I hope the Texas Delegates at the State Convention will not cave to the threats from the RNC. Texas is known for standing our ground, not for backing down.

6 comments:

  1. As one who opposes the change, I respect this decision much more. This didn't constitute an "emergency". The strongest case for Winner-Take-All was that it was the wish of the Texas GOP before RNC rules complicated the matter, and the same traditional party practices also include keeping most party authority in the hands of the Convention.

    The delegates who take their time to assemble to promote the cause of Liberty and Conservatism in Texas and America can weigh the pros & cons and act accordingly.

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  2. The Winner-Take-All controversy only applies to the Republican Presidential Race....Correct? And NOT to the U.S. Senate Republican Primary....Correct?

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  3. This only affects the Presidential race... All other Texas races will remain the same. Most races are only winner take all. for instance, if you get the most votes for city council then you win that seat, you do not split the seat proportionally based on what percentage of the vote you got. In the US senate there is no proportional or delegate process. For the US Senate race, the person who gets 50% of the overall vote wins the Senate seat. If no person gets 50% on the first vote then the top 2 candidates go to a runoff election and the candidate the most votes in the runoff election wins the seat.

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    1. The person who gets 50% of the overall Primary vote does NOT "win the Senate seat," and the person who wins the Primary Run-Off does NOT "win the seat."

      The person who gets 50% PLUS 1 of the overall votes, in either the Primary or Primary Run-Off, wins the Republican NOMINATION but must still be elected in the General Election. But since no Democrat has won a statewide vote in Texas since 1994, essentially your statement is true.

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    2. you are right, it is 50% PLUS 1 vote.... not just 50%

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  4. Correct, the Winner Take All controversy does NOT apply to any political race except for President and Vice-President.

    But as I recall, Texas DID have a "modified" winner-take-all primary before the RNC stepped in. It used to be that if any candidate won 50% plus 1 votes statewide, he got every delegate from Texas. And if no candidate won 50% plus 1 votes statewide, THEN it went by congressional district, and within each congressional district if no candidate won 50% plus 1 votes then that district's delegates were apportioned PROPORTIONALLY.

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