A Republican precinct chair who won his election, only to be declared ineligible after the fact, is suing the Tarrant County Republican Party.
Chris Rector won a primary election to chair Tarrant County Precinct 4230 with 75% of the vote. A week later, Tarrant County Republican Party Chairman Bo French sent Rector a letter accusing him of pretending to be a Republican in order to dissolve the party and merge it with the Tarrant County Democratic Party. As a result, French wrote, he would not issue a certificate of election to Rector.
The lawsuit, filed April 10, alleges French “concocted a bogus, fraudulent claim that Contestant was ineligible for the position to which he had been elected.” Rector is asking a judge to declare him eligible and confirm his election as precinct chair. In the interim, he is asking for a temporary restraining order to ensure the Tarrant County Republican Party can’t appoint someone else as chair.
No amount of money can compensate Rector for a lost political office, nor can it compensate the residents who voted for him, Rector’s lawyers argued in the suit.
In a written statement, French said the party will defend itself against the lawsuit and win, “whatever it takes.”
“This is a blatant assault on our First Amendment rights to freedom of association, engineered by Democrats bent on destroying our organization,” French wrote.
I'm being sued.#txlege pic.twitter.com/XeypBLmyQP
— Bo French (@Bo_French_TX) April 13, 2024
The party chair said Rector’s lawsuit is a prime example of why Texas needs to close its primaries. Currently, Texas voters are not required to register as a Republican or Democrat before voting in either party’s primaries, a fact Republicans have lamented across the state. Julie McCarty, founder and CEO of the True Texas Project, joined French in calling for closed primaries following the lawsuit.
Steve Maxwell, a former Tarrant County Democratic Party chair who defends the party in lawsuits, is representing Rector. Daniel P. Sullivan is also representing Rector in the suit. Both attorneys work for Bailey & Gaylen.
The lawsuit was initially assigned to Judge Melody Wilkinson in the 17th District Court. Wilkinson recused herself from the case shortly after it was filed, and requested the administrative judge in the region to assign another judge to hear the case.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.