Republican Party of Texas (RPT) Chairman Steve Munisteri will leave the party with a complete slate of county party chairs as he leaves the party on Saturday. All 254 counties of the State of Texas have Republican Party chairs for the second time during Munisteri’s tenure. This was one of his top priorities when he took office in the summer of 2010.
Earlier this year, Chairman Munisteri announced he would be resigning his position as chairman at the March 7th meeting of the Texas State Republican Executive Committee (SREC). Breitbart Texas reported that Munisteri will be taking a position as an adviser to Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) after his departure from the party’s leadership seat.
When the Chairman took office in 2010, there were twenty-one vacancies in County Chair positions across the state, according to a press statement from the RPT obtained by Breitbart Texas. The party was also deeply in debt. Munisteri made sure the twenty-one positions were filled and the debt was eliminated before the 2012 elections.
Last week, because of turnover in some of the positions, there were four vacancies. “Thanks to the hard work of Cassie, RPT Special Projects Director Rachel Wilson, Political Assistant Abby Sinclair, and interns Jill, Dallas, Zohaib, and Devin, we have reach our goal yet again,” RPT’s statement read.
There will be an election on Saturday to select a new chairman to replace Munisteri. One Republican at a recent club meeting said, “His vision for Texas will be hard to replace.” Four candidates are currently seeking to fill the void that will be left behind. Candidates currently include Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Wade Emmert, Republican Party of Texas Treasurer Tom Mechler, former Harris County Republican Party Chairman Jared Woodfill and Republican National Committeeman Robin Armstrong.
The Chairman took a nearly bankrupt state party and quickly moved it into the black. He has led highly successful statewide campaigns and helped stave off the attack from the liberal Battleground Texas campaign. The numbers of Republican elected officials have greatly increased under his leadership. The number of Texas counties with GOP Chairmen and active parties has increased. And, large numbers of Democrats have come to realize the Democrat party no longer represents their values and they changed party affiliation.
The election on Saturday will be conducted by the SREC, who will select an interim chairman to fill out the unexpired term of the current chairman. Another election will be held in the summer of 2016 where the delegates of the party will elect a chairman to serve for the next two years.
Munisteri reflected on his tenure as the state’s Republican Party chairman. “We paid off the party’s debt to $0 for the first time in 18 years and have remained debt free since November 2010 while bringing in over $22 million in revenue,” he stated. “This would not have been possible without the support of literally tens of thousands of grassroots activists and donors, for which I will be forever grateful. It has been the honor of my life to represent tens of millions of Texas Republicans and I wish our new Chairman well, whoever that may be, and plan to offer my support in whichever way I can help.”
Breitbart Texas will be on-hand to cover the election of the new RPT Chair and other activities of the SREC.
Bob Price is a senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and on Facebook.