Deep In The Gutters Of The Republican Primaries

Money, Power, and Neo-Nazis: The battle within the Texas Republican primary elections.

The Texas Republican Civil War has unsurprisingly significantly impacted the Republican primary elections this year. It’s messy, ugly, and highly entertaining for the rest of us. Republicans are out for blood and all seemingly unaware that Texas is rapidly turning blue. It’s great for us, though; the more Republicans attack each other, the more they hurt their own causes.

Representative Tony Tinderholt (R-Tarrant County) is out for blood.

Now that Bryan Slaton (R) is a stain on the GOP’s past, Tinderholt is fighting hard to become the biggest scum in the Texas House. The $100,000 he received from the neo-Nazi-aligned Defend Texas Liberty PAC has seemingly given him nerves of steel, and he’s taking it out on all of his Republican co-workers.

The first fight Tinderholt is having is with Fort Bend County Representative Jacey Jetton (R). From what I can tell, it started with some he-said/she-said stuff over an amendment (or multiple amendments) during the legislative session. And have spun out of control from there.

Jetton explained on the Seeing Red Podcast what started the feud between him and Tinderholt. During the legislative session, Jetton passed HB1898, which gave funding to children’s hospitals to expand emergency mental health services for minors who were either suicidal or having an emergency health crisis. Tinderholt attempted to add an amendment to the bill, which would have denied funding to any hospital that provided gender-affirming care.

Jetton rejected the amendment, and the House voted against it, so it failed. Here was that moment:

On the Seeing Red Podcast, Jetton talked about how the amendment wasn’t germane to the bill and how it was redundant since there was already a stand-alone anti-LGBTQ bill. Jetton claimed that Tinderholt, after getting off the phone with his people (presumably the neo-Nazi-aligned people), told Jetton he was going to push this amendment to give the right ammo for the primary elections.

Allegedly, Jetton told Tinderholt “no,” and he didn’t want to play political games with this bill. Tinderholt introduced the amendment anyway. Then, Jetton called Tinderholt “part of the swamp” and one of the members who likes to play political games with the lawmaking process.

After that, Tinderholt had been telling people that Representative Jetton was pro-trans. For the record, Jetton not only voted for the anti-LGBTQ legislation (SB14), but he was also a co-sponsor.

Eventually, in January, this blew up to Tinderholt and Jetton arguing online and Jetton calling Tinderholt a “snake.” Tinderholt responded with a screenshot of an entirely separate bill and amendment he pushed that failed. His premise was, “Look how hard I’ve worked to save children in Texas and look at the Republicans who fought against it.”

HB18 was also a stupid Republican bill. When it passed, Twitter completely roasted the bill’s author, Shelby Slawson, because she talked about wanting to protect children from buying marijuana online. The bill requires parental consent for a minor to sign up for social media.

Regarding the amendment Tinderholt tried to add, here was that moment:

You’re probably starting to understand why no one likes Tony Tinderholt.

As far as I can tell, Jetton mostly ignored Tinderholt after that. Then, Tinderholt challenged Jacey Jetton to a debate.

Jetton did not respond. So, Tinderholt secured a venue and a date, then made a flyer.

Jetton again did not respond. So, Tinderholt did the next, most rational thing. He got in his car and drove 300 miles south to attend the debate on February 15.

Jacey Jetton did not show up, but he finally responded (and blasphemed Beto O’Rourke while he was at it).

Here was Tinderholt’s response:

What is Tony Tinderholt’s deal? Who knows? Maybe he’s bored. The fight between him and Jetton is far from the only battle he’s fighting this election cycle, but it’s the most entertaining. At the bottom of it, Tinderholt is a liar who has been paid big money by groups aligned with neo-Nazis to sow chaos within the Republican Party to move GOP further right. All he’s really doing is creating enemies. We’ll see where it goes, and I’ll have much more to say about Tinderholt after the primaries.

The sexual deviancy of House District 138 Republicans.

If you missed it last month, Texas Tribune reporter Robert Downen broke a shocking report of one of the Republican primary candidate’s roles in the Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler’s sex abuse scandal. Jared Woodfill has been a Harris County Republican activist for many years and is now running a primary campaign against the Republican incumbent Lacey Hull.

Last week, federal investigators reopened a previously closed fraud case against Woodfill. Republicans never send their best.

What’s interesting about this race is that during Hull’s initial run for office, she had a very public affair and a messy divorce. One of the most standout moments was when Hull’s text messages were leaked to Barstool Sports. The messages were between Hull and her married co-worker, Representative Cole Hefner. They seemed to detail some very intimate acts the two of them exchanged, particularly the claims of Hull pegging Helfner.

Hefner stayed with his wife, and during the last legislative session, Hull became romantically involved with Collin County Republican Jeff Leach.

While Leach is/was married, it was reported that he was not wearing his wedding ring during the last legislative session.

So, the Republicans in HD138 have a big decision in front of them. Do they vote for the candidate who enabled a pedophile? Or do they vote for the candidate who pegged her married co-worker?

For the record, Republican Party of Texas Chair Matt Rinaldi endorsed the pedophile enabler.

The race to take down Speaker Dade Phelan.

Phelan has become the enemy of the Republican grassroots over the last year, mainly because Tim Dunn funds all of their media, and Dunn wants revenge on Phelan for Paxton’s impeachment. The Republican running against Phelan is Republican activist David Covey. This race has been so dirty that the police have had to get involved.

Covey is an interesting character. He’s a 34-year-old with a “law degree” from an unaccredited correspondence law school, signed the “Texit” pledge, and supported by Dark Money groups from out of state. Covey has also taken in a lot of money from Tim Dunn.

Covey’s ad is a fantastic representation of what a clown show the Republican Party has become. In his ad, he doesn’t discuss his legislative plans. It’s only about Trump.

“Trump doesn’t support Dade. Trump endorses Covey. Covey is a Trump Conservative. Trump. Trump. Trump”

Take a listen:

We’re probably only a year or two away from Republican political ads that say, “Welcome to Costco, I love you.”

Currently, Phelan has pulled in $3.8 million, while Covey is sitting at $400,000.

Last month, DPS arrested an Orange County man for threatening to kill Phelan on Facebook. The threat was posted along with a post from David Covey claiming that Phelan formed a “Gun Control Committee.” He did not. That was a lie that originated from the NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch.

Then, earlier this week, two men pretending to be campaign workers showed up at Phelan’s House and accosted his wife in what the local news outlet is calling “extreme political harassment.”

This is the type of political harassment that Republicans in Texas have done to Democrats for many years. While it may feel like a taste of their own medicine, it’s important to remember how we all would like to live in a civilized society. Republicans should run on the issues, but in too many cases, they embrace fear and intimidation.

Phelan has been playing an ad on the local stations in Beaumont, which may tickle you. It’s three elderly ladies sitting around the kitchen table, talking about what a liar David Covey is.

Last night, Phelan held a joint event with ex-Governor Rick Perry in Beaumont for hundreds of Republicans. Perry bragged on Phelan’s record, and Phelan harked on the dark money coming into the race, placing the blame squarely on Ken Paxton.

With Super Tuesday only 18 days away, anything could happen.

The Republican Party of Texas is in complete disarray. Likely, they’ll never recover from it. The final breaths of life may be gone by the November election, signaling big wins for Democrats. While their demise is gloriously entertaining to those of us on the left, please don’t forget that Democrats have their own primary election in the coming days. Fucking vote.

Important 2024 primary election days:

• February 20, 204: First Day of Early Voting.

• February 23, 2024: Last Day to Apply for Ballot by Mail.

• March 1, 2024: Last Day of Early Voting.

• March 5, 2024: Election Day!

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