rinaldi TexaS state GoP

---

see state gop wackos

pow mofo pending

strickland

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Muslim Republican in tears after being told to leave TX GOP convention — and the country

AN 6 26

an 4 24

months after a scandal over his ties to white supremacists, far-right political operative and former state lawmaker Jonathan Stickland has created a new group — with help from outgoing Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi.

On March 5, Stickland registered “RaTmasTeR Holdings LLC” with the Texas secretary of state, and Rinaldi is listed as the new group’s organizer. A week later, the chief operating officer of Pale Horse Strategies — a far-right consulting firm Stickland owns — separately registered another group, “Patriot Service Alliance LLC,” according to the Texas Voice, a conservative website that first noted the new groups on Friday.

“RaTmasTeR” is a reference to the alias that Stickland has used for decades in online gaming forums, where he was an infamous troll. Stickland parlayed the skills he honed during his early life as an internet antagonist to help lift him from a job in pest control to the Texas House and, eventually, one of the most powerful political positions in the state.

Stickland and Rinaldi, who is stepping down as Texas GOP chair next month, did not respond to requests for comment Friday afternoon.

Stickland has been at the center of a white supremacy scandal since October, when The Texas Tribune reported that he had hosted infamous Adolf Hitler fan Nick Fuentes at Pale Horse’s offices for several hours. Rinaldi was also spotted outside Pale Horse’s one-story office building in rural Tarrant County, but denied knowing Fuentes was inside.

The meeting — as well as subsequent reporting by the Tribune that uncovered other white supremacists in Stickland’s orbit — prompted House Speaker Dade Phelan and other Republicans to call for party members to redirect money they received from Stickland’s group, Defend Texas Liberty, to pro-Israel charities.

Defend Texas Liberty is a powerful political action committee that West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks have used to give more than $15 million to far-right groups, lawmakers and candidates. Dunn and Wilks are also Attorney General Ken Paxton’s biggest donors, and Defend Texas Liberty gave $3 million to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick last summer, before Patrick presided over Paxton’s impeachment trial in the state Senate.

In the fallout from the Fuentes meeting, nearly half of the Texas GOP’s executive committee called for the party to cut ties with Stickland and Defend Texas Liberty, which was the party’s biggest donor last year.

Stickland was quietly replaced as Defend Texas Liberty’s president in October, and Pale Horse Strategies later rebranded as “West Fort Worth Management LLC.” (Not long after it was registered last month, “Patriot Service Alliance” filed paperwork to operate under the name “West Fort Worth Management LLC”). Rinaldi, meanwhile, has continued to attack critics of Stickland and Defend Texas Liberty — while quietly working as an attorney for Wilks, one of the group’s billionaire funders.

In November, the Texas GOP’s executive committee narrowly rejected a resolution that banned the party from associating with Holocaust deniers, antisemites and neo-Nazis — language that some members argued could create a slippery slope and complicate the party’s relationship with donors or future candidates. After backlash, the party in January passed a resolution that banned it from associating with antisemites — a significantly watered-down version of previous proposals that specifically named Stickland and Defend Texas Liberty.

---

January 16, 2024 5:02 pm

Nikki McCann Ramirez @ Rolling Stone: Nikki Haley Says America Has ‘Never Been a Racist Country.’ Uhhh…

The presidential candidate made the claim while noting her own experience with racism, and in spite of the whole slavery thing.

Angry White Men: On Rumble, Elijah Schaffer Hosts A Slur-Filled Debate About Zionism.

On the extremist-friendly platform Rumble, Elijah Schaffer moderated a debate on Zionism between Adam King, Gavin McInnes, Nick Fuentes, and Vincent James Foxx. During the often-chaotic debate, participants used racial slurs, cheered the ethnic cleansing of the Gaza Strip, and promoted antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Hemant Mehta @ Friendly Atheist: A detailed compilation of Mike Johnson’s ties to Christian Nationalism.

The Congressional Freethought Caucus has valid questions about how Mike Johnson wants to legislate his faith.

Allan Smith, Katherine Doyle and Vaughn Hillyard @ NBC News: Trump’s embrace of far-right activist Laura Loomer worries his allies.

One Trump ally told NBC News that Loomer, who has a history of making anti-Muslim remarks, is widely seen as a “liability” by people who work for the former president.

Marco Margaritoff @ HuffPost: Bill O’Reilly Is Furious As His Own Titles Get Removed After Supporting Florida Book Bans.

The disgraced conservative pundit, who previously seemed indifferent to casualties of this broadly-applied law, is now naturally aghast.

Claire Goforth @ The Daily Dot: ‘The whole town has my back’: Anti-immigration power couple has big plans to shape U.S. laws—from their castle in West Virginia.

Over the years, the Berkeley Castle has been a private residence, boys’ camp, event space, even aspiring “ghostbuster college,” as local author Jeanne Mozier wrote in The Story of Berkeley Castle: What’s True and What’s Not. The castle has inspired tales of ghosts, secret passageways, even a curse. Today the castle has become a wedge in this town of fewer than 800 residents.

Robert Downen @ The Texas Tribune: Texas GOP chair Matt Rinaldi backed a group with white supremacist ties — while working for its billionaire funder.

Farris Wilks is a key funder of Defend Texas Liberty, the state party’s largest donor, which is under fire for its ties to white supremacists

Diane Falzone @ Mediaite: Capitol Police Investigating Roger Stone Remarks About Assassinating Members of Congress.

The Capitol Police are investigating remarks made by pro-Trump political operative Roger Stone discussing the assassination of two prominent House Democrats. A source told Mediaite the FBI is aiding with the investigation.

---

nation mag

no lnx pix

POLITICS / AUGUST 29, 2023

The War Within the Young Republican Party

At the Young Republican National Convention, far-right figures made few inroads—but they did read my Nation investigation.

AMANDA MOORE

Gavin Wax, president of the New York Young Republican Club, speaks to members of the media during a rally outside the New York County Criminal Court in New York City on Monday, March 20, 2023.

On August 19, The Nation released my article to subscribers detailing some of what I saw during my 11 months undercover in far-right circles. By chance, the article’s publication coincided with the Young Republican National Convention in Dallas, Tex., an event I had long planned to cover. I knew that Gavin Wax, one of the figures mentioned in the piece, would also be there in his role as the president of the New York Young Republican Club.

During the convention, my investigation was only available to subscribers—it wasn’t pushed in front of the hard paywall until Tuesday, August 22, so I figured no one would read it at the Omni Dallas Hotel. After all, how many subscribers to The Nation could possibly be at a Young Republican event?

Read the Article that Enraged the Right

Undercover With the New Alt-Right

AMANDA MOORE

On Saturday morning, Wax greeted me with an over-the-top hello and a joke about the far right taking over. I had written about Wax twice before, and one of those times he worked to mass report both my Twitter account and my editor’s in retaliation for my coverage of him. I assumed his sarcastic acknowledgment was related to my prior work. By that night, things changed.

Saturday evening was the National Awards Gala. After the event, I ran into Wax in the hallway. The NYYRC and New York State Young Republican Club had won an award for outstanding recruitment, which Wax was holding. Wax and Chelsea Hall, the NYYRC’s communications director, announced that Wax had won an award, and told me I should write about that next time. Not realizing they had read the undercover piece, I was confused. I congratulated Wax on doing such a good job. “He did do a good job,” Hall yelled, and I promised to mention the award next time I wrote about him. (Promise kept.)

I made my way over to a group of Young Republicans who were aware that I was a journalist. NYYRC Vice President Nathan Berger walked up to us, and aggressively asked who I was and why I was there. At that moment, I couldn’t place his face, though I was pretty sure he was a member of NYYRC.

“Do you know Gavin Wax? I’m a journalist, and I write about him,” I said, then told Berger he looked familiar. He assured me that I didn’t. Someone asked what club he was from, and when he said New York, one gestured to me and said that he must know who I was.

Berger snapped that he did not know me, then immediately announced that I had just written a piece for The Nation, and everyone should read it.

“Sounds like you know who she is!” someone replied to Berger.

Uncomfortable with Berger’s temper and bizarre confrontation style, we made our way downstairs, where we ran into Wax and Hall. Wax began yelling at the person next to me, screaming that I was antifa and demanding to know why he was talking to me. This was a Young Republican event, he said, and I was not a Republican. “Did you know that she’s antifa?” he asked.

The YR being yelled at told Wax that he didn’t know who he was, but his angry, loud demeanor did not make him seem particularly credible. Wax announced that I was secretly recording everything everyone said to me, and it dawned on me that I probably should record this interaction. When I pulled out my phone, Hall pointed out what I was doing.

“Yeah, I know that she’s recording,” Wax replied. “And I love that you admitted that you committed multiple felonies in Florida.”

When I countered that the places were public—or at least not venues where you’d have an expectation of privacy—Wax smirked. “OK, you can argue that in court. I cannot wait for the arrest warrants.” He turned back to the YR who was talking to me. “But anyway! Good luck, she’s recording everything you’re doing, and have the best time here.”

While Wax was happy to cause a scene, most of the YRs just avoided me, though a few were willing to talk. Wax is brash and aggressive on Twitter, and he will leverage his followers against outspoken YRs whom he considers RINOs. At YRNC, that brutish, Trumpian approach to politics was not the norm. Multiple people who heard Wax confront me apologized for his behavior later.

As with the larger GOP, Donald Trump has divided the YRNF. On August 19, the YRs voted on their new national leadership. There were two coalitions to choose from: the more moderate Grow YR and Ascend, who largely represented the MAGA wing of the YRs. (A representative from Ascend told me the group does not want to make YRNF a MAGA populist organization, though nearly every person I talked to supporting Grow disagreed.)

Popular

We Have Mounting Proof That Cruel Men Control Women’s Bodies in Red StatesWe Have Mounting Proof That Cruel Men Control Women’s Bodies in Red States

JOAN WALSH

Grow’s candidate for national chair was Hayden Padgett of the Texas Young Republicans. In 2020, Padgett released a video saying that George Floyd was murdered and that Black lives matter. Padgett’s message in the 2020 video was not an endorsement of the Black Lives Matter protest movement but of the idea that everyone is created equally and in God’s image.

Some of his detractors spent a year and half using the video to discredit him, even buying the URL www.haydenpadgett.com and redirecting it to a clip of him acknowledging anti-Black racism.

But the campaign didn’t work, and Padgett won with overwhelming support, pulling in 575 votes to his opponent’s 127. As it turns out, the Trumpian wing of YRNF does not have the same pull within the organization that they have on social media.

Kari Lake was the keynote speaker for the awards gala, and there had been rumors of a walkout. And when she went up to speak, a few people did leave the room. Some YRs complained about her lies over the election. One person said they didn’t want to hear about Ukraine, saying that Ukrainian immigrants in their district were reliable Republican voters and that the US was right to defend the country’s sovereignty.

The last day of the convention, the Texas YRs de-federated the Dallas Young Republicans, removing the chapter from Texas Young Republican Federation and stripping them of the right to use the Texas Young Republican name. The Dallas YRs have a reputation for being “based,” which in this context means they embody some of the worst characteristics of Trumpian politics. The group’s chair, for instance, has an event next month featuring John Doyle, who planned a Stop the Steal rally with Nick Fuentes and is a proud Christian nationalist.

“The Dallas YRs were removed, because they have refused to engage with the parent organization for a very long time,” said Matt Wiltshire, the YRNF’s finance director. “They don’t talk to us or communicate. They have not cared about rules for years. They allow expelled Texas YRs to attend their events.” (Dallas YRs have since spent their time on Twitter, insisting they quit before they were voted out.)

The Texas YRs also voted to separate themselves from the Republican Party of Texas, due to their strained relationship with Matt Rinaldi, the Texas GOP chairman. In the lead-up to the election, Rinaldi refused to endorse Padgett, a fellow Texan who was almost unanimously supported by the Texas YRs, or even to remain uninvolved. Instead, Rinaldi endorsed Padgett’s more MAGA opponent, whose brand of Republicanism was more in line with his own.

“Rinaldi came to the convention not to spend time with the Texas YRs, but to go to the New York State Young Republican meeting,” Wiltshire explained. The meeting had “people who have been cruel to many members of our organization,” and Rinadli went “in order to disparage the Texas YRs and Hayden.”

Just before the cote, a representative from Ascend had told me, “Even though it’s the last thing we want, I assume there will be splinter organizations. This could be the last large YRNF convention ever.” This may already be playing out.

On Sunday, the Rockwall County YRs voted to leave the Texas Young Republican Federation, citing TYRF’s decision to end their partnership with the Republican Party of Texas. Like Dallas, Rockwall has a reputation for being a based club, one that is not in lockstep with TYRF’s leadership. In their release, they wrote that they “are proud to form a coalition with the Dallas Young Republicans.”

While the MAGA populists might often be the loudest voices from YRNF, they appear to be losing the internal struggle for power. Much like within the GOP, the rift over is likely to grow wider and deeper in the lead-up to the 2024 election.

:{:{Amanda Moore is a writer and researcher who focuses on far-right extremism.}:

---

an 10 23

texas GOP chair stays silent on allies’ connections to antisemitic extremists" was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Faced with ongoing scandals this month involving his allies' ties to antisemitic extremists, the leader of the Republican Party of Texas has come out strongly — to attack other conservatives who’ve criticized his friends.

For three weeks, Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi has been defiant in the face of calls from members of his own party to cut ties with Defend Texas Liberty leader Jonathan Stickland, who recently hosted avowed white supremacist Nick Fuentes at his office for nearly seven hours. And he’s gone after those who’ve been critical of Defend Texas Liberty, a political action committee that is funded by two of the Texas GOP’s most prolific donors.

Separately, Rinaldi is at the center of a parallel controversy involving a group for young conservatives that he recently embraced despite warnings about its leaders’ openly antisemitic views and ties to white nationalist figures.

*[Nick Fuentes is just the latest white supremacist embraced by Defend Texas Liberty]

For some Republicans, the dual scandals have raised serious questions about the party’s willingness to denounce racists — and its leader’s proximity to those who embrace them.

“He has put his friends’ interests above what is in the best interest of the party,” said Mark McCaig, an attorney and chair of the Texas Republican Initiative. “He is more concerned about protecting them and their gang.”

To be sure, Rinaldi was quick to distance himself from Fuentes. The Texas Tribune spotted Rinaldi earlier this month at the office building where Fuentes, an Adolf Hitler admirer who has called for a “holy war” against Jews and encouraged his followers to beat women, was being hosted by Stickland.

![](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/Tx3aOZlJrASWXLs0KnK2qMjNwb8=/1200x804/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/58ae5caba94100de08d475567b4f1c15/1006%20Fuentes%20TT%2008.jpg)

Texas Republican Party Chairman Matt Rinaldi is seen entering the offices of Pale Horse Strategies outside of Fort Worth on Oct. 6, 2023. Credit: The Texas Tribune

Asked about the Oct. 6 meeting, Rinaldi told the Tribune that he had no idea Fuentes was inside and would never meet with him. As for Stickland? Rinaldi said he would wait until more facts came out before commenting on his longtime political kin.

“I’m not going to make assumptions based on what I'm told by a reporter,” he said on Oct. 8.

Since then, neither Rinaldi nor the Republican Party of Texas has commented on Stickland, even as other major figures — including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Kyle Rittenhouse — have issued statements that confirmed the Tribune’s reporting. Nor has Rinaldi responded to concerns from fellow Republicans and some party executive committee members who’ve called for a break with Defend Texas Liberty, which has donated $257,000 to the party since 2021.

Instead, Rinaldi has reserved his ire for House Speaker Dade Phelan, accusing the Beaumont Republican of politicizing antisemitism before demanding his resignation. Phelan has also demanded Rinaldi step down as the party’s leader and give money the Texas GOP received from Defend Texas Liberty to pro-Israel charities.

Since news of the Fuentes meeting broke, Rinaldi has posted or amplified attacks on Phelan or the Texas House on X, formerly Twitter, more than 40 times. He has not, however, publicly criticized Stickland or Defend Texas Liberty at all — even as new information continues to emerge about their close ties to white supremacists.

:{*:{[Here’s who gets money from Defend Texas Liberty, the PAC whose leader met with white supremacist Nick Fuentes]}:

On Monday, the Tribune reported that, in just the last month, at least five current and former Fuentes associates have worked with groups that are closely tied to Stickland, Rinaldi and Defend Texas Liberty. That includes True Texas Project, whose leaders have sympathized with the racist gunman who murdered 22 people at an El Paso WalMart in 2019, and who are set to host Rinaldi for a fundraiser and softball game this weekend.

On Wednesday, the Texas Observer reported that a swastika-clad neo-Nazi who was spotted handing out antisemitic flyers in Fort Worth this month had previously interned for Luke Macias, a longtime GOP consultant and Rinaldi ally who just replaced Stickland as president of Defend Texas Liberty, according to the group’s website.

And this week, the Tribune reported that the president of Texans For Strong Borders, Chris Russo, has for years been a prominent figure in Fuentes’ racist movement, and has continued to post on anonymous, hate-filled social media accounts as his group —with help from Rinaldi and Defend Texas Liberty — has emerged as an influential voice that’s pushed lawmakers to crack down on legal and illegal immigration.

Rinaldi and the Texas GOP did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story.

‘A moral obligation’

The controversies come amid an internecine fight between the state’s far right and the Texas GOP’s more moderate, but still deeply conservative, wing. That strife has exploded into all-out war since the impeachment and acquittal of Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Rinaldi ally who has received nearly $4.65 million from West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Farris and Dan and Farris Wilks. Those billionaires also fund Defend Texas Liberty and, before that, bankrolled Rinaldi’s career in the Texas House.

Defend Texas Liberty has been one of the most important players in the state party’s ongoing civil war. Campaign finance records show that, since 2021, it has given nearly $15 million to right-wing movements and candidates. The group made headlines this summer after giving $3 million to Patrick, months before he presided over Paxton’s impeachment trial. Defend Texas Liberty also gave $3.6 million to Don Huffines, a former state senator who helped push Gov. Greg Abbott to the right by attacking him on immigration and other issues during last year’s Republican primary.

Meanwhile, the Texas GOP’s far right has continued to embrace groups and individuals that others have warned are a bridge too far. Fuentes was the best-known of those extreme figures; but his visit and the ensuing controversy were punctuated by a separate-but-related, scandal involving the party and white supremacists.

That ordeal dates back to August, when the 66-year-old Texas Young Republican Federation voted to end its partnership with the Texas GOP until Rinaldi — who the group accused of initiating a “smear campaign” and partnering with far-right figures to undermine their newly-elected leadership — was removed from his position.

Things escalated last month, when Rinaldi pushed for the Texas GOP to bring a newly-formed spinoff group into the party despite warnings that its leaders included avowed white nationalists.

The warnings proved to be right: Days after the Tribune first reported on Fuentes’ visit with Stickland, an independent journalist reported that leaders of the new young Republicans group had praised Hitler online, and published photos of some of its leaders outside of an event for Fuentes’ vitriolically antisemitic “groyper” movement.

“There was a time in my life when I hated Nick Fuentes and his white supremacy views,” one of the group’s leaders, Rylie Rae, reportedly wrote on social media last year. “Now I recognize that he is one of the smartest people in our country and we need white nationalism. Oh how the tides have turned.”

Responding to the controversy, the new group’s leadership said in a statement that it “condemns bigotry in all forms” and had removed the individuals in question.

But before that, other young Republicans said they made clear to Rinaldi and the leaders of the new group that they were in bed with extremists. Those concerns were rebuffed, a move that one person said is emblematic of a broader problem and power struggle that has allowed extremists to flourish in Republican circles.

“There is a tendency among the populist right to essentially say, ‘It doesn’t matter how awful the person is, as long as they are on our side,’“ said Matt Wiltshire, finance director for the Young Republican National Federation. “We believe that we have a moral and ethical duty to be uncompromising in our stance that there is right and there is wrong.”

One of those removed was Konner Earnest, who led the group’s Parker County chapter and also recently became involved with the European American Community, a white nationalist group that argues American citizenship should be based on European ancestry.

![](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/HK5Swe5A-hEjGNXJHBmn64A1VbQ=/1200x804/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/d7f8232dbebbc8c49e23f6ff0c924add/Konner%20Earnest%20TT%2003.jpg)

Konner Earnest outside of the offices of Pale Horse Strategies outside Fort Worth on Oct. 6, 2023. Earnest is an associate of Nick Fuentes and also worked on former state Sen. Don Huffines' gubernatorial campaign in 2022. Credit: The Texas Tribune

Earnest has other ties to Rinaldi and Defend Texas Liberty: He was spotted outside the Fuentes meeting with Stickland, and has appeared in videos for Russo’s Texans For Strong Borders, which has received considerable financial support from Defend Texas Liberty. Earnest has also written anti-immigration articles for Texas Scorecard, a prominent right-wing media website that is financed by Defend Texas Liberty’s billionaire funders.

Rinaldi does not appear to have released any public statement or made any comment on social media about the young Republicans scandal.

Meanwhile, the Texas GOP’s executive committee remains at an impasse over how to respond to the party’s ongoing white supremacist problem.

Last week, after Stickland was quietly removed as Defend Texas Liberty’s president, roughly one-third of the executive committee's 64 members, including Vice Chair Dana Myers, signed a letter saying that the party had a “moral obligation to speak boldly, publicly, and clearly on this matter” and demand an explanation for the Fuentes meeting.

“Fuentes' views and Stickland’s tactics are abhorrent and totally antithetical to the principles of the Republican Party of Texas and to the conservatives who have trusted [Defend Texas Liberty] for the cause of liberty and patriotism,” they wrote. “Whether this was caused by a lapse in judgment, conscious disregard, poor leadership, or a faulty moral compass –– Stickland and [Defend Texas Liberty] must ultimately accept responsibility.”

*..."}:

Since then, the party’s disagreements have continued to escalate in public view, as Rinaldi and his allies remain largely silent on the scandal. Two weeks ago — and after a Tribune reporter reached out to more than a dozen members of the party’s executive committee regarding Defend Texas Liberty — the Texas GOP removed contact information for executive committee members from its website.

The Texas GOP did not respond to a request for comment on the move, which has been publicly blasted as an attempt to keep members from being contacted by the public.

“You don’t stand for ‘we the people’ unless they have access to you,” said Cat Parks, a former executive committee member and vice chair of the Texas GOP. “It’s not like controversy didn’t happen during my tenure.”

For now, it’s unclear what comes next for the Texas GOP and its relationship with Defend Texas Liberty, which released a two-sentence statement saying it opposes Fuentes’ “incendiary” views but has yet to provide any other details on the meeting. Stickland may no longer be leading the group, but his removal is likely cosmetic given that he also owns Pale Horse Strategies, a consulting firm that is used heavily by Defend Texas Liberty-funded groups and candidates.

Members of the party’s executive committee have said as much this week, and reiterated their calls for the party to speak out against Defend Texas Liberty and Stickland.

The Texas GOP “must renounce [Defend Texas Liberty] until a full explanation of the Fuentes meeting is provided, those responsible are held accountable and there’s new entirely new leadership (not just the same players swapping job titles),” executive committee member Rolando Garcia wrote this week on social media.

“Don’t excuse the inexcusable just to spite your political enemies,” he added.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/10/27/matt-rinaldi-texas-gop-republicans-nick-fuentes/.

---

Matthew Daniel Rinaldi (born April 11, 1975) is an American attorney and politician serving as the chairman of the Republican Party of Texas. Rinaldi was a member of the Texas House of Representatives for district 115 in Dallas County from 2015 to 2019 when he was defeated by Democrat Julie Johnson.^[1]

Early life and education

Rinaldi was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He graduated from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, at which he drew national attention for his successful effort to have the Pledge of Allegiance recited prior to meetings of the student government association.^[2] He graduated in 2001 with a Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law.^[3]

Professional career

After law school, Rinaldi became a litigation associate with the Dallas office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Rinaldi spent the next two decades working at different law firms but never made partner and never worked at any law firm for more than five years.^[4] After working at various Dallas law firm, Rinaldi worked part time with various gigs until he began to work for a billionaire political donor.^[5]

Political career

Texas House of Representatives

2012 and 2014 Texas primaries

In 2012, Rinaldi placed third of five candidates in the Republican primary election for the 115th district of the Texas House of Representatives; the seat was open following the retirement of veteran legislator Jim Jackson.^[6] Of the top two vote-getters, Bennett Ratliff would win the Republican nomination in a run-off over Steve Nguyen, then go on to win the seat in November 2012.

On March 4, 2014, Rinaldi challenged incumbent Ratliff in the Texas Republican primary for the seat again, this time successfully; Rinaldi earned 4,167 votes (50.6 percent) to Ratliff's 4,075 votes (49.4 percent).^[7]

84th legislative session and 2016 Texas primary

During the Eighty-fourth Texas Legislature, Rinaldi was appointed to the Agriculture & Livestock committee and the Business & Industry committee. He joint- and co-authored successful pieces of legislation that were signed into law, including: HB 11^[8] (authorizing additional troopers for border security and strengthening smuggling laws), and HB 283^[9] (increasing government transparency by requiring certain governmental bodies to make audio and video recordings of open meetings available online).

Rinaldi filed bills intended to eliminate or minimize the effects of the Robin Hood plan on Texas public school districts with HB 945 ^[10] and HB 1411.^[11]

Rinaldi co-authored legislation that would repeal in-state tuition and end welfare benefits for undocumented immigrants^[12] as well as penalize businesses that knowingly hire undocumented immigrants.^[13][14]

Rinaldi was rated the most conservative member of the Texas House by a Rice University study that "[drew] on the 1,138 non-lopsided roll call votes taken during the 2015 regular session."^[15]

In the Republican primary held on March 1, 2016, Rinaldi and Ratliff would face off a third time,^[16] as Ratliff vied unsuccessfully to win back the House District 115 seat. Rinaldi earned 8,804 votes (53.45 percent) to Ratliff's 7,668 votes (46.55 percent). ^[17] In the November 8 general election of that year, Rinaldi narrowly held on to the House seat, earning 29,987 votes (50.9 percent) over Democrat Dorotha M. Ocker's 28,939 (49.1 percent). ^[18]

85th legislative session

During the Eighty-fifth Texas Legislature, Rinaldi was appointed to the Agriculture & Livestock committee and the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence committee.

Rinaldi was, according to the Dallas Morning News, "instrumental in strengthening the punishments in the sanctuary cities ban,"^[19] and authored and passed into law measures that: remove from office public officials who adopt sanctuary city policies,^[20] require government contractors and subcontractors to use e-verify,^[21] revoke pensions of teachers convicted of committing sex crimes against students,^[22][23][24] allow churches to utilize volunteers to provide security services without risking heavy fines,^[25] and prohibit any taxpayer money from going to Planned Parenthood.^[26] He also re-introduced legislation he had previously proposed to end the Robin Hood school finance system.^[27]

:{:{In May 2017, Rinaldi called Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers on protesters inside the Capitol building. Rinaldi claimed that he called ICE after seeing individuals holding protest signs indicating they were illegal immigrants.^[28] An altercation ensued; according to multiple Hispanic Democratic lawmakers, Rinaldi got into their faces during the dispute and cursed at them. Video shot from the House floor showed both Republicans and Democrats pushing each other.}:

Rinaldi claimed that Representative Poncho Nevárez threatened his life during the incident, which Nevárez denied. Democratic lawmaker Justin Rodriguez claimed that Rinaldi threatened to "put a bullet in one of my colleagues’ heads"; Rinaldi did not deny making the statement, but claimed it was made in self-defense.^[29] Rinaldi's actions were widely seen as having a racial motivation.^[30] After the incident, state representative Ramon Romero Jr. said Rinaldi had "racially profiled every single person that was in the gallery today."^[29]}:

During Rinaldi's second term, he remained ranked as the most conservative legislator (tied with Briscoe Cain and Jonathan Stickland) in Austin according to a Rice University's study roll-call vote analysis drawing on 1,460 non-lopsided roll-call votes taken during the 2017 regular session.^[31] He was also named one of the Top 10 Legislators by the conservative advocacy group Empower Texans,^[32] as well as one of the Top 10 Worst Legislators by Texas Monthly.^[33] His voting record earned a 100 score from conservative advocacy group Texans for Fiscal Responsibility.^[34]

2018 campaign

Rinaldi lost his state House seat in 2018. Rinaldi was unseated by Democrat Julie Johnson, whose campaign included volunteers that had been part of the ICE altercation at the Capitol in May 2017.^[35] Rinaldi earned 24,512 votes (43.21 percent) to Johnson's 32,214 votes (56.79 percent), the lowest vote percentage of any House incumbent in Dallas County that year.[36^]

Republican Party of Texas

Rinaldi was elected Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas on July 11, 2021, to replace outgoing chair, former Congressman Allen West.^[37][38] In his first weeks as Chairman, Rinaldi had established a reputation of being more collegial than West had been,^[39] but also signaled an intent to challenge statewide Republican officials including Governor Greg Abbott.^[40] As state GOP chair, Rinaldi has come under fire from within the party for directly attacking elected Texas Republicans who are perceived by the grassroots faction within the state organization as not conservative enough.^[41]

Personal life

He and his wife Corley, married since 2010, attend St. Ann Catholic Parish Roman Catholic Church in Coppell.^[3]

Election history

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chron no lnx

Texas Politics

Texas Republicans say GOP chairman has 'weaponized' the party as internal strife continues

:{:{By Cayla Harris, Austin BureauUpdated Nov 14, 2023}:

Matt Rinaldi, chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, during the third and final day of this year’s Republican Party of Texas Convention Saturday, June 18, 2022, held at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, TX.

Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi was in and out of the building in 45 minutes.

Rinaldi has said he didn’t know his close friend and colleague, Jonathan Stickland, was meeting in the same office complex on Oct. 6 with Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who has praised Adolf Hitler. He has denounced Fuentes in no uncertain terms.

But in the month since, Rinaldi has not addressed his relationship with Stickland, then the president of the deep-pocketed Defend Texas Liberty PAC that is among the state party’s top donors. Nor has he responded to nearly half of the party’s 64-person executive board who have signed a letter calling on the party to cut ties with Stickland and the PAC.

READ MORE: Texas GOP fractures as some criticize leaders for slow response to denounce antisemitism

The fallout from the meeting has worsened tensions both within the Texas GOP and between Rinaldi and other prominent Texas Republicans. For many, it has underscored an ongoing shift in the state party, which was once primarily focused on fundraising and helping support local Republican clubs and candidates.

Over the past three years, and especially since Rinaldi took over in 2021, the organization has tried instead to assert itself as a driving force behind right-wing policy positions, eager to challenge elected Republicans who they believe are not conservative enough. Rinaldi has been particularly vocal after the Texas House overwhelmingly voted in May to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton on corruption charges, setting off months of infighting.

“We are no longer a political institution,” said Morgan Graham, a member of the state party’s executive committee who represents the Rio Grande Valley. “We are, if anything, something that has been subjected to a hostile takeover and weaponized.”

Some hard-right Republicans argue that Rinaldi, who previously served in the Texas House, is only better aligning the party with the grassroots and advocating for conservative policy. Others — led by House Speaker Dade Phelan — say Rinaldi is neglecting the party’s responsibilities and turning Republicans against each other, especially ahead of a contentious primary season that will pit Rinaldi’s favored right-wing candidates against incumbent House Republicans.

Rinaldi, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has accused Phelan of aligning with Democrats by continuing a long-standing tradition of appointing some of them to lead committees and failing to pass a school voucher plan that would allocate state money to send children to private schools. That proposal, a priority for Gov. Greg Abbott that is still under consideration in the lower chamber, has bipartisan opposition, and some of the biggest adversaries are rural Republicans.

RELATED: All eyes on House Speaker Dade Phelan as school voucher session nears

“Speaker Dade Phelan ignited a civil war in the Republican Party when he appointed Democrats to top House leadership positions and then joined with them to stage a sham impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton,” Rinaldi said. “The Republican Party has, as it should, taken the side of the Republicans in this dispute by defending its statewide officeholders against political persecution by Democrats.”

Rinaldi did not respond to the accusations that he has neglected the party’s core functions of fundraising and supporting Republican candidates. But Rinaldi has said online that the party spent millions to elect Republicans in 2022, though much of that money came from national GOP organizations.

Phelan and his allies have shot back at Rinaldi in recent weeks. In an interview, Phelan said he has only spoken to Rinaldi once since he was elected — when they ran into each other at an event.

“That’s a problem, and that’s not on me,” Phelan said in an interview. “That’s on the (party). They don't have any money. When they need money, they go to a couple benefactors to keep the lights on over there. But as far as voter registration and reaching out to new voters as they move to Texas, because we’ve grown so fast — as far as grassroots efforts, they do nothing.”

'Never a serious legislator'

Phelan and Rinaldi were elected to the Texas House in the same year — but where Phelan established himself as an ally of House leadership, eventually teeing up his run for speaker, Rinaldi joined the hardline Texas Freedom Caucus. Rinaldi’s most famous, or infamous, moment on the House floor was when he nearly got into a physical fight with then-state Rep. Poncho Nevárez after calling federal immigration officials on protestors during a heated debate over a controversial immigration bill.

Rinaldi, an attorney by trade, lost his seat during a Democratic wave in 2018. Originally hailing from Connecticut, the chairman came to the Dallas area in 2001 after earning his law degree from Boston University.

Phelan, who has been especially critical of Rinaldi and the party after the Fuentes meeting, said the chairman was “never a serious legislator,” and over the past three years, the Texas GOP “has gone completely off the cliff.”

“You tell me who your friends are, and I'll tell you who you are,” the Beaumont Republican said of Rinaldi’s relationship with Stickland and the PAC. “Meeting with Nazi sympathizers and Holocaust deniers … if you're meeting with these individuals and strategizing with them, then you are them.”

He said the party is at an “inflection point.”

When journalists reached out to executive committee members after the Fuentes meeting, which was first reported by the Texas Tribune on Oct. 8, Rinaldi’s administration removed their contact information from the party website.

“There's no transparency anymore,” said Jan Duncan, a member of the executive committee who represents the Austin area. “Originally, what the SREC is supposed to do — our job is supposed to be to represent our constituents and to get Republicans elected. And it has now become very much like a little mini legislature, which is not good and not appropriate.”

At least three executive committee members say Rinaldi has also been more combative than past chairs and has threatened them with challengers if they do not vote in line with his priorities during quarterly meetings. Rinaldi did not address these allegations in his statement.

The party has also increasingly embraced censures, which under a 2020 rule change now allow the state GOP to spend money against censured candidates in primaries.

The executive committee, which includes Rinaldi, censured U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales in March for his bipartisan votes on guns and same-sex marriage, and the party is poised to censure a top House Republican who led the impeachment effort. If school vouchers don’t pass, Phelan is likely next.

“It’s ‘our way or the highway’ mentality, which will be very destructive to the Republican Party in the years to come,” said Chad Wilbanks, who served as executive director of the party from 2003 to 2004 and ran an unsuccessful bid against Rinaldi for chairman in 2021.

Phelan said Rinaldi and a handful of his allies want to sow chaos in the Texas Legislature similar to the way a few Republicans in D.C. upended the U.S. House last month by ousting Kevin McCarthy from the speakership, leaving the chamber without a leader for three weeks.

“They want to empower a small group of people to have that same type of influence in Austin,” Phelan said.

Dozens of Republican House members have sided with the speaker, and some of the chamber’s most conservative members also voted for or led the effort to remove Paxton from office.

But Rinaldi said “the fact that a few Republicans like Dade Phelan have joined the Democrat team does not change the party’s position or render us neutral” — and there are many Republicans who agree with him, too.

“The role of our party is to be a tool for the grassroots — average Texas families to organize, identify protections and liberties they see as worthy of being enshrined in Texas policies, then provide this in writing (the platform) as a helpful brightline to those who step forward to SERVE our great Republic,” Rachel Horton, a member of the executive committee who represents parts of North Texas, posted on social media.

Shifting priorities

John Beckmeyer, who served as executive director of the party under Rinaldi from July 2021 to August of this year, said the party has been central to passing conservative priorities, including a sweeping elections bill two years ago.

“I absolutely believe that the party has a larger role than to just get Republicans elected,” he said.

The party approved a 40-page platform at last year’s convention that includes bread-and-butter GOP issues, like cutting government spending, reducing business regulations and eliminating unfunded mandates. It also declares homosexuality as an “abnormal lifestyle choice,” opposes “all efforts to validate transgender identity,” supports the placement of the Ten Commandments in public schools and calls for the elimination of hate crime laws.

More than a dozen Republicans interviewed for this story described different points at which they believe the party started to turn more into an advocacy group. For some, it was the censure of former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus in 2018. For others, it was former Chairman Allen West’s decision to protest in front of the governor’s mansion in 2020.

West, who did not respond to a request for comment, left the chairmanship in 2021 to launch an unsuccessful primary challenge against Abbott. The party’s executive committee then elected Rinaldi, who promised to work “with, and not for” elected Republicans. He was re-elected to a full term last year at the state party’s convention, where U.S. Sen. John Cornyn was booed on stage for his work on bipartisan gun reforms after a shooting at a Uvalde elementary school.

That convention — where U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw was also aggressively confronted by a far-right YouTube personality — was another turning point for some party observers. No matter when it started, though, they agree that Rinaldi has embraced a more hostile leadership style that has pitted the state party against many of its elected representatives, especially this year.

“I kind of miss the days when party chairs weren’t always causing drama,” Rolando Garcia, another member of the party’s executive committee who represents the Houston area, said after a recent social media battle between Rinaldi and members of Phelan’s leadership team.

Brendan Steinhauser, an Austin-based GOP consultant, said Rinaldi has taken the party to “the next level, which is using the party apparatus to push for an agenda and to call out Republicans by name.”

Because the 2021 redistricting cycle eliminated most competitive races across Texas, there’s more room for the party to get involved in primaries and policy debates, Steinhauser said.

“The right is making the argument that you can’t deny the grassroots,” he said. “You have to empower them. They're the ones that go door to door, knock on doors, turn out voters. They're the ones that get those voters, those Republicans to show up in the generals. … I think they have a really good argument.”

By Cayla Harris

Cayla Harris covers Texas politics and government for the San Antonio Express-News and Houston Chronicle. She can be reached at cayla.harris@hearst.com.

She also serves as training director of the Hearst Fellowship Program, a two-year initiative allowing early-career journalists to gain experience at Hearst newspapers across the country.

She previously covered New York state government for the Albany Times Union. She grew up in New Jersey and is a 2019 graduate of the George Washington University, where she studied journalism and Spanish.

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*Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

Poor Matt Rinaldi.

First the Texas Republican Party chair had to explain himself for showing up at the offices of far-right political action committee Defend Texas Liberty on the day it hosted white supremacist and Adolf Hitler enthusiast Nick Fuentes. (After a bombshell Texas Tribune report on the meeting, Rinaldi disavowed Fuentes and denied he knew the controversial media figure was in the same office even though the pair's visits reportedly overlapped by 45 minutes.)

Next, Rinaldi — who was bankrolled by Defend Texas Liberty's chief funders while he served in the Texas House — faced pressure from Speaker Dade Phelan to return $132,500 the Texas GOP received this election cycle from the PAC. (Rinaldi responded by lobbying petty insults at Phelan and calling on him to step down.)

Now, amid an escalating war of words, Phelan has turned the tables and called for Rinaldi's resignation. "If we're to 'root out this cancer' [of antisemitism] as Lt. Gov. [Dan] Patrick states, those efforts begin with Matt Rinaldi's resignation as Chair," Phelan wrote on social media.

Predictably, Rinaldi again tried to change the subject, this time accusing Phelan of being drunk while presiding over the House — a flimsy claim first aired by indicted Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton shortly before the House began impeachment efforts against Paxton on corruption charges.

"Dade Phelan's beer goggles have prevented him from seeing the truth," Rinaldi fired back in his best middle school lunchroom-ready response.

For all Rinaldi's attempts to shift the discussion by trading in infantile verbal jabs, he's repeatedly proven himself to be a Fuentes-adjacent figure.

For example, Chris Russo — the guy who drove Fuentes to the meeting at Defend Texas Liberty's office — is the president of Texans for Strong Borders, an anti-immigrant group that days prior partnered with Rinaldi in calling for the state legislature to pass draconian anti-migration measures, according to a report by online news organization Just Security.

It's time for Rinaldi to stop dealing in cheap insults, stick to the subject and truthfully address his connections with Fuentes.

If he can't, then reasonable Republicans — assuming there are any left — have no one but themselves to blame for the letting this assclown further stain their party.

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about Chairman Matt Rinaldi

Republican Party of Texas

https://texasgop.org › about-chairman-matt-rinaldi](https://texasgop.org/about-chairman-matt-rinaldi/)

Chairman Matt Rinaldi represented northwest Dallas County in the Texas Legislature from 2015 to 2019. During his time in office, Rinaldi was consistently ...