Reports on Monday claimed the Texas National Guard could be deployed to five cities on Election Day in preparation for possible protests and violence. On Wednesday, Governor Greg Abbott confirmed the consideration of deployment on an “as-needed basis.”
The San Antonio Express-News first reported on Monday that Texas National Guard officials disclosed the possibility of deploying up to 1,000 to five of Texas’ major cities. Those cities could include Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio, Texas Guard spokesman Brandon Jones told the newspaper.
“Right now we could go to 1,000 troops in support of civil disturbance operations,” Jones told the reporter. “We’re going to guard buildings just like we did during the George Floyd protests earlier this year. We are not going anywhere near polling locations. That has not been requested.”
Reporters asked Governor Abbott about the possible deployment on Wednesday at a “Back-the-Blue” news conference held at the Houston Police Officers’ Union headquarters. Abbott responded that any deployment would be on an “as-needed basis,” the Houston Chronicle reported.
“We want to make sure that in the event there are any after the elections are concluded and that we will have adequate personnel in place to make sure that we will be able to address any protests that could turn to riots,” the Texas governor explained.
Abbott emphasized the possible deployment of National Guard troops would play “no role whatsoever” in the election process.
“They will not be disruptive in the election process whatsoever,” he explained. “They have a goal, and that is to support the efforts that they would be called upon to support the Texas Department of Public Safety.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
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