A rural southwest Texas County Commissioners’ Court called on the Legislature to put a secession question on the 2023 General Election ballot. The resolution passed Tuesday by Edwards County calls for Texas to secede from the U.S. and return to being an independent nation.
Edwards County Commissioners released a resolution Tuesday night listing a litany of grievances against the United States including the national debt, usurpation of states’ rights, restrictions on private industry, curbs on the Second Amendment, and failures to enforce immigration laws, among others.
The resolution is signed by Commissioners Marty Graham, Lee Sweeten, and Kenneth Reed. It is also signed by Edwards County Judge Souli Asa Shanklin. Commissioner Matt Fry did not join.
A spokesman for the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) called it a “responsible step” and added that this is believed to be the first county to pass such a resolution.
TNM President Daniel Miller told Breitbart Texas, “Edwards County is the first county to pass this resolution but it most certainly won’t be the last. Pressure is mounting on legislators and statewide elected officials to, at a minimum, put the TEXIT question on the ballot.”
Edwards County calls on the Texas Legislature to take action in accordance with items 33 and 335 of the 2022 Texas Republican Platform.
Breitbart Texas reported in July on Plank 225 of the platform shortly after it was adopted. It reads:
Texas Independence: We urge the Texas Legislature to pass bill in its next session requiring a referendum in the 2023 General Election for the people of Texas to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation.
During the 87th Session of the Texas Legislature, State Representative Kyle Biedermann (R-Fredericksburg) authored HB 1359, the Texas Independence Referendum Act. The bill was referred to the State Affairs Committee on March 5, 2021. No further action was taken, according to Texas Legislature Online records.
Biedermann did not run for re-election in the 2022 Republican Primary on March 3. It is not known who will author a Texas Independence bill in the 88th Legislative Session in 2023.
The Edwards County Commissioner’s Court passed a related resolution in July 2021, establishing the jurisdiction as a “constitutional county” which laid out some of the same grievances with the federal government.