Three Republican challengers for Texas governor have confirmed their participation in an upcoming town hall hosted by a secessionist organization, the Texas Nationalist Movement.
TMN announced on its website that Allen West, Chad Prather, and Don Huffines all agreed to participate in its event, which will be held virtually on November 7 and livestreamed on various social media channels and a Roku channel that the group says it’s planning to launch soon.
Huffines, a former state senator; Prather, a BlazeTV media personality; and West, a former Texas GOP chairman, are seeking to unseat two-term Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who must win the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary before facing a Democrat in November.
Daniel Miller, president of the Texas Nationalist Movement, said, “This town hall will be an opportunity for the people of Texas to meet the candidates and determine which one aligns best with the mission and principles of the TNM specifically, and Texans as a whole in general.”
“Ultimately, the TNM wants to consolidate its support behind a single candidate for this office, and this event will definitely impact our decision,” said Miller, who will moderate the event.
Abbott declined to attended the forum, according to TMN.
The group didn’t mention two other declared GOP candidates, Kurt Schwab and Paul Belew, though it later added in its statement that it had “been made aware of another candidate who has entered the governor’s race and will be looking at the possibility of adding him to the event.”
Secession Talk
The Texas National Movement’s stated mission is “to secure and protect the political, cultural and economic independence of the nation of Texas and to restore and protect a constitutional Republic and the inherent rights of the people of Texas.”
Texas secessionism briefly became a topic of discussion in the legislature earlier this year when Rep. Kyle Biedermann (R-Fredericksburg) filed a bill to allow Texans to vote in a referendum on whether to secede from the United States.
Under the Biedermann’s proposal, the ballot language of the proposition would have stated, “Should the legislature of the State of Texas submit a plan for leaving the United States of America and establishing an independent republic?”
The bill also called for the creation of a legislative study committee to consider topics like whether an independent Texas should form a temporary currency union with the United States and what would happen to U.S. government property and assets in Texas.
Biedermann’s proposal drew fire from fellow Republicans, particularly from Jeff Leach, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, who called the bill “the most anti-American bill I’ve seen in my four plus terms in the Texas House.”
Leach told Biedermann, “It’s a disgrace to the Lone Star State. The very definition of seditious. A true embarrassment. And you should be ashamed of yourself for filing it.” The bill was referred to the State Affairs Committee but never given a hearing.
1 comment
“Never given a hearing.” What is the legislature afraid of? That the People of Texas might actually decide they want to secede? Whom do they serve? If they serve the people of the state of Texas, they should give the people a chance to express their opinion on the matter. Refusing to put this non-binding referendum on the ballot demonstrates that the state legislature is only serving the ones that line their pockets.