Texas Young Republicans Go To War Against Texas Old Republicans

Get your popcorn ready. We have a disastrous Republican primary season ahead of us.

Yesterday, during the 2023 Young Republican National Convention, Hayden Padgett was elected chair of the National Young Republicans Federation. Originally from California, Padgett has been making waves in GOP circles for several years. Formerly the Chairman Emeritus of the Texas Young Republicans, he also ran in the GOP primary for HD70 last year.

A while back, Padgett said, “Black lives matter,” and urged more Republicans to say the same. Today, Matt Rinaldi, Chair of the Republican Party of Texas (a.k.a. Old Republicans), hinted that he had animosity toward Padgett. Originally from Connecticut, Rinaldi allegedly discredited and demeaned Padgett’s Reputation through emails, texts, and videos to the National Delegates.

The Texas Young Republicans allege that Rinaldi endorsed a different candidate than the one they endorsed, and he did not participate in any Texas Delegate-sponsored events. They then basically called him a toxic force within the Texas Republican Party, and the Texas Young Republicans voted to leave the Republican Party of Texas as an auxiliary group. Then, they voted no confidence in the Republican Party of Texas Chair, Matt Rinaldi.

Read the entire resolution here:

Rinaldi completely denied these allegations and accused the Texas Young Republicans of throwing a temper tantrum.

While Rinaldi denied the charges from the Young Republicans, right-wing podcaster Derrick Wilson leaked text messages allegedly from Rinaldi, asking for dirt on Padgett.

This is good news for the Texas Democratic Party and Young Texas Democrats.

As the Civil War with the Texas Republican Party rages on, this gives Democrats the opportunity to shine a spotlight on the Republicans’ dysfunction and inability to lead. The Christion Nationalism and extremism from Texas Republicans have primarily been coming from Rinaldi’s camp and the True Texas Project, whose leader is also from California. This has already and will continue to alienate strong Republican voters.

Grab the popcorn and get ready. We’re in store for an extremely messy Republican primary season. We’ll just have to make sure that Democrats are there afterward to pick up all the pieces.