SREC Committeewoman Candy Noble wrote a great summary of the 2016 RPT Convention, but our own Executive Director, Neal Katz, had his own take on the convention too.

The Republican Party of Texas held its 2016 State Convention at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas on May 12-14th. This Convention is the largest political convention in the free world.

At the Convention over 8,000 Delegates passed a Platform, voted on Party Rules, and selected 155 Delegates and Alternates to the Republican National Convention, to be held in Cleveland in July. In addition, the Delegates chose the State Party Chairman and Vice Chair, two members of the State Republican Executive Committee from each Senate District, and elected the Texas Republican National Committeeman and Committeewomen.

For the first time at a State Convention Delegates were able to vote on each plank of the platform separately, using an optical scan system. The Delegates voted on a 266-plank platform, all of which passed.

The assembled Delegates heard from a variety of speakers, including Governor Greg Abbott, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and other statewide officials. Senator John Cornyn addressed the Convention on Friday, and Senator Ted Cruz was the Keynote Speaker on Saturday. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama spoke to crowd on Saturday as a representative of Presidential Candidate Donald Trump. At the Gala on Friday, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and political commentator D’Nesh Dsouza addressed a crowd of over 1000. Many elected officials held receptions, and all of us in attendance reached our exercise quotas with a lot of walking.

The Collin County Republican Party would like to thank the following Delegates who served on Committees at the Convention: Marc Friedland (SD-8 Credentials), Susan Fischer (SD-8 Organization), Diann Jones (SD-30 Organization), Mary Carl Finkelstein (SD-8 Rules), Deanna Kuykendall (SD-8 Rules), Stacy Gibson (SD-8 State Nominations), and Karl Voigtsberger (CD-3 National Nominations). We would also like to thank Chris Davis and Candy Noble for chairing the Senatorial and Congressional Caucuses, respectively.

State Chairman Tom Mechler was re-elected, as was Vice Chair Amy Clark. For the two RNC Committee positions, the races were so close that we had a secret ballot vote on the floor of the Convention. Both Committeeman Robin Armstrong and Committeewoman ToniAnne Dashiell were re-elected.

Senate District 8 State Republican Executive Committeeman Karl Voigtsberger and Committeewomen Candy Noble were re-elected, as was SD 30 Committeewoman Deon Starnes. Paul Braswell was elected from SD 30 as Committeeman.

At the Congressional District 3 Caucus on Saturday, Neal J. Katz, George Flint and Carroll Maxwell were elected by those present to be National Delegates in Cleveland this July, while Deanna Kuykendall, D’Rinda Randall and Shelby Williams were elected as Alternate Delegates.

At the meetings of the National Nominations Committee, Mark Reid was elected as a National Delegate, and Jodi Rushton as an Alternate Delegate.

Carol Sewell was chosen as a Presidential Elector at the Caucus, and Candy Noble was chosen as a Presidential Elector by the National Nominations Committee. As Texas is expected to vote Republican in November, our two Electors will travel to Austin in late December to cast their votes for our Republican Candidate.

As some of you are aware, I not only serve as your Executive Director, but also served as the Republican Party of Texas Coordinator for the 2016 Convention. It was very heartening to see hundreds of hours of planning come to fruition this past weekend, and to see thousands of delegates, alternates and guest participate in the political process. Thank you to all who could attend.

I am already working on the 2018 Convention, to be held most likely in San Antonio or Houston. If you have any comments or feedback on the 2016 Convention, please contact me and let me know your thoughts at [email protected].

As a final note on the Convention, if you every need to place 27,000 chairs or reserve 7,000 hotel room-nights, please feel free to contact me.