Texas Democrats call on GOP leaders to 'resign immediately' after antisemitism vote

The Texas Democratic Party is calling on Texas Republican Party leaders to resign after the state GOP's decision last week to exclude language in a resolution seeking to disavow Nazism within the party.

In a call with reporters Thursday, Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa condemned the GOP's vote to remove language from a pro-Israel resolution meant to ban the Republican Party from associating with known Nazi sympathizers and white supremacists.

"That's why I'm calling on the Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi and every elected official on the state Republican Executive Committee that agrees with this vile white supremacist ideology to resign immediately," Hinojosa said.

The GOP's executive committee in a 32-29 vote Saturday stripped language denouncing Nazi sympathizers and banning affiliation with them from the party's resolution. That language was prompted in part by a Republican donor group's recent meeting with a Holocaust denier.

In October, Jonathan Stickland, a former state representative who led the Defend Texas Liberty PAC — a group funded by West Texas billionaire Tim Dunn that supports ultra-conservative Republican candidates, such as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton — met for hours at the group's headquarters in Fort Worth with Nick Fuentes, a self-proclaimed Adolf Hitler admirer and Holocaust denier.

Since that meeting became public, state Republican leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Patrick, have denounced antisemitism and have said it has no place in the GOP. House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, even called on Republican lawmakers who have received contributions from Defend Texas Liberty to return or donate those funds. Patrick has said he sees no reason to return the millions he has received from the group.

Over the weekend, Patrick, Phelan and other GOP officials condemned the Republican Party Executive Committee's vote on the resolution.

Patrick, quoting the removed language that sought to outlaw the party's connection "with any individual or organization that is known to espouse anti-Semitism, pro-Nazi sympathies, or Holocaust denial,” called the vote unacceptable Saturday in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

"This language should have been adopted — because I know that is our position as a party," Patrick wrote. "I am confident that the SREC will correct this at their next meeting — not affirming this language is totally unacceptable to me.

"I, and the overwhelming majority of Republicans in Texas, do not tolerate antisemites, and those who deny the Holocaust, praise Hitler or the Nazi regime."

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Phelan, in a rare moment of agreement with Patrick after a contentious year in the Capitol, called the state party's vote despicable and indicative of the GOP's unwillingness to split ties with Dunn.

"There is a moral, anti-Semitic rot festering within the fringes of BOTH parties that must be stopped," Phelan posted Saturday on X.

Hinojosa, the Democratic Party chairman, said Thursday that "This is not something that our state should have among its political leadership" in calling for Rinaldi's resignation.

The Texas Republican Party on Monday passed a resolution to reaffirm its "commitment by denouncing all forms of anti-Semitism and violence against Israel, Israeli Americans, Jewish Americans, and supporters of Israel."

The resolution, however, did not contain the language that the executive committee struck Saturday.

After the party's Monday resolution, Rinaldi released a scathing statement calling Democrats "Hamas sympathizers" after the Texas Democratic Party voted unanimously to approve a resolution supporting a humanitarian cease-fire in the Middle East war.

Israel is fighting a war against Hamas, a militant Palestinian group that launched a deadly surprise attack against the Jewish state on Oct. 7.

"Republicans stand with Israel and our Jewish citizens,” Rinaldi said in concluding his remarks

During Thursday's Democratic Party news conference, Rep. Jon Rosenthal, D-Houston, said the whole situation is concerning to him as one of two members in the Texas House with Jewish lineage.

"I mean, there aren't two sides to this issue," Rosenthal said. "There's nothing to clarify, there's nothing to explain. ... These folks refused to adopt language to ban and denounce Nazi sympathizers, Holocaust deniers because of fear of it being a slippery slope.

"There is no slippery slope. It's beyond reckless for a party to casually accept racist antisemites and Holocaust deniers."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas Democrats call on GOP leaders to resign after antisemitism vote