Key Impeachment Player Geren
Faces Texas Independence Foe
Capitol Inside
November 29, 2023
A former Tarrant County Community College professor filed on Wednesday to run against longtime State Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth in the GOP primary election in 2024 in a fight that will revolve on his role in the Texas House's failed bid to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Jack Reynolds' emergence in the House District 99 race pushed the number of House Republicans with contested primaries back up to 39 after two dropped out in the past 10 days. Geren is one of three dozen GOP representatives who are facing first-round foes next year after voting to oust the three-time elected attorney general in the spring.
“Charlie Geren did not simply vote in favor of impeaching AG Paxton,” Reynolds said in a statement. "He served as one of only 10 impeachment managers, seven of whom were Republicans, and was the only non-lawyer to do so out of the whole group.”
Geren served on the General Investigating Committee that conducted a probe into the AG that it hid from the public until going public just days before the impeachment vote on the regular session's final weekend. Geren was the standing panel's only member who's not an attorney. GOP Speaker Dade Phelan appears to select Geren for the part as a product of the wisdom and experience he would bring to the investigations committee.
The committee's members assured colleagues that Paxton's impeachment would be a foregone conclusion in a trial in the Texas Senate where he was actually acquitted when only two GOP members voted to convict. Geren was one of 60 House Republicans who voted to strip the state lawyer's post from Paxton.
Reynolds resigned at TCC after lodging a grievance that accused the school of hiring practices that gave minorities an advantage. Reynolds was a candidate for the TCC board in April before cancelling his campaign several weeks before the election. Reynolds' surfacing in HD 99 means that Geren will face primary opposition for the first time since 2018.
Geren won the HD 99 seat initially in the same election that propelled then-Texas Governor George W. Bush to the presidency. Geren was one of the most influential members of Republican Joe Straus' team when he led the House before stepping down in 2019.
Geren continued to wield substantial clout in the lower chamber under current Speaker Dade Phelan and his one-term predecessor Dennis Bonnen. Geren defeated the same heavily-armed Republican challenger in the primary elections in 2016 and 2018 before running unopposed in the first round in 2000 and 2022.
Geren could find himself running against Paxton for all practical purposes with Reynolds hoping to cash in on impeachment backlash fever within the conservative base. But Geren also can expect questions on whether he will sign the Take Texas Back pledge to push for Texas' independence from the United States like she won from Mexico in the 1830s.
At least 15 House challengers have signed the TTB pledge - which is a promise to pursue "a fair and expedient separation of Texas from the federal government" if a majority of the voters back a break from the U.S. The candidates who've inked names to the pledge are vowing to support legislation for a statewide referendum on an independent nation reboot in every term they serve until the election materializes.
Two Republicans who are challenging Phelan in the 2024 primary - David Covey of Orange and Alicia Davis of Jasper County - have signed the Take Texas Back pledge. The list of pledge signers includes House GOP challengers Dewey Collier of Talco, Jaye Curtis of Palestine, Bianca Gracia of Pasadena, Tom Glass of McDade, Tim Greeson of Sealy, Janis Holt of Silsbee, Andy Hopper of Decatur, Dale Huls of DeKalb and Dennis London of McLendon-Chisholm.
Collier and Curtis are taking aim in the primary at State Reps. Cole Hefner of Mount Vernon and Cody Harris of Palestine. Gracia is challenging GOP State Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park while Glass, Holt and Hopper are facing State Reps. Stan Gerdes of Smithville, Ernest Bailes of Shepherd and Lynn Stucky of Sanger in rematches of bouts that they had in 2022.
Greeson is taking on freshman State Rep. Stan Kitzman of Pattison while London seeks to oust GOP State Rep. Justin Holland of Heath in round one next year. Huls is running against Republican State Rep. Gary VanDeaver of New Boston.
more to come ... |
