Gay Treasury Secretary Who's Ex-Soros #2
Co-Keynote at State GOP Convention Gala
Capitol Inside
June 7, 2026
As party loyalists prepared to converge on Houston for the Texas GOP Convention this week, Governor Greg Abbott sounded the alarm on a potential blue wave in the making on Sunday in a pitch for campaign cash that invoked the dreaded name of the Hungarian-born investor who's the all-time boogeyman for the Republicans.
"The Left is gaining ground," Abbott warned in an email. "They see Texas as the crown jewel of their national strategy, and they are pouring MILLIONS into trying to flip it blue with the help of billionaires like George Soros."
The state party's biennial gathering may seem like a really small world for the Texas governor at the convention that he's co-sponsoring with President Donald Trump cabinet member Scott Bessent as a keynote speaker at an American Patriots Gala that Patriot Mobile is sponsoring on Friday night at the Hilton Americas hotel. Bessent is the first openly gay treasury secretary in the U.S. and the second to ever be confirmed for a cabinent post.
But Bessent may know more about Soros than any of the Republicans in the Lone Star State as the wealthy New York Democrat's former partner and chief investment officer for years before starting his own shop with a boost from the Soros group. Bessent staged a fundraiser for Democrat Al Gore in the Hamptons in 2020 when he hedged his bet with a donation of $1,000 to John McCain. Bessent contributed to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton before shifting his allegiance and generosity to Trump after his election to the White House in 2016.
The Republicans in Texas have been enemies of the LGBTQ rights movement while declaring war on people who are transgender with baseless claims about the grooming of children by Democrats who are on the general election ballot here this year. The U.S. Senate Ken Paxton and his allies have portrayed Democratic foe James Talarico as a gay vegan without regard for the fact that he eats meat with a special affinity for Texas barbecue. The White House has claimed that Talarico is transitioning to be a female despite the fact that he has a girlfriend who's a former staff member and current lobbyist.
GOP officials here had a high bar to try to top after the Texas Democratic Party announced a lineup of special guests for its state convention later this month in Corpus Christi where Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham are scheduled to speak at events while U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders delivered the keynote.
The Texas Republican Party revealed last week that it enlisted Benny Johnson to serve as the emcee for the Gala celebration. Johnson isn't exactly a household name even in MAGA world. But Johnson has a podcast and a series of YouTube channels with an estimated six million viewers. Bessent will join U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill of Flower Mound in the keynote speaker lineup for the 2026 convention that will unfold over the course of three days at the George R. Brown Convention Center and the Hilton that's connected to it.
While Bessent gives the Republicans an ironic twist of novelty as a gay man who worked as the Soros number two and helped fund Democrats, Christian recording artist Natasha Owens will entertain the Republicans in Houston as the headline performer at a "Welcome Party & Concert" on Thursday evening in the main convention hall. Owens put out three albums before touching MAGA hearts with songs that she released in the past three years as tribute to the current president. Owens' song Trump Won in 2023 trumpeted his false claims on the 2020 election being stolen from him. Owens cut another song in 2023 called The Chosen One, which centers on her claim that God chose Trump to lead the fight against evil in this country and across the world.
While Bessent may seem out of place at the GOP convention in the eyes of Democrat, a Christian music concert may even stranger in light of the fact that the Republican Senate nominee in Texas was sued him for divorce on "biblical grounds" in connection to years of alleged adultery and mistress tales.
But none of people who are slated for major supporting roles in Houston may feel more like an alien in potential danger than Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows - one of 60 Republicans who voted to impeach Paxton on charges of public corrpution tied to a contributor and female love interest just three years ago. Burrows was one of the most powerful members on then-Speaker Dade Phelan's team as the Calendars Committee chairman in the House in 2023 when Paxton was impeached.
Burrows' emergence as a state convention event host and major sponsor sparked a fierce backlash among conservatives who've accused him of pandering to Democrats who helped him get elected to the dais last year. Burrows is set to appear at a Liberty Grassroots Club Breakfast that he's sponsoring early Friday morning at the Hilton.
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