Abbott’s closed-primary promise

Gov. Greg Abbott made an unmistakable promise at the 2026 Republican Party of Texas Convention.

Texas, he said, would make clear that only Republicans vote in Republican primaries.

Then came the court filing.

Texas Secretary of State Robert Howden, appointed by Abbott in July, told a federal judge Aug. 10 that the state would maintain the legal position taken by his predecessor, Jane Nelson. Texas continues to oppose the Republican Party of Texas’s effort to obtain a closed GOP primary in federal court and still seeks dismissal of the lawsuit.

That does not mean Howden rejects closed primaries. His filing says the Legislature is the proper forum for creating the system and that the secretary of state’s office would implement a change enacted into law.

But it leaves Texas Republicans with a legitimate question: If the governor supports the result, why is his administration still spending public money to fight the party seeking it?

A fight over more than election procedure

Texas does not register voters by political party. Under current law, a voter may choose either party’s primary, but cannot participate in both parties’ primaries in the same election year. A voter who skips the first-round primary may choose either party’s runoff.

The Republican Party of Texas argues that this system interferes with its First Amendment right to decide who participates in selecting its nominees. Attorney General Ken Paxton sided with the party. The secretary of state’s office, represented by outside counsel, has opposed the requested court order.

Howden inherited that split when he succeeded Nelson. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ordered the new Secretary of State whether Texas would change course. Howden’s answer was that the legal position remained the same. Texas Scorecard

The filing points to support from Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dustin Burrows for legislative action before the 2028 election. That may ultimately produce a closed-primary law. It does not explain why the state should continue paying to oppose the party in the meantime.

Why Texas voters should care

This case decides more than who receives a Republican ballot.

It tests who controls a political party’s nomination process, whether party-association rights can override the state’s current election system and whether elected leaders will turn a convention promise into policy.

It also puts taxpayer money at the center of the dispute. Republican voters are helping fund the party pressing the lawsuit. Those same Texans also fund the state officials and outside lawyers opposing it.

That is the kind of power conflict Politics with the Big Dogs exists to examine: what elected leaders say, what government does and who pays for the gap between the two.

Also in this episode

Anthony examines the growth of democratic-socialist politics after primary elections in Wisconsin and Minnesota, Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz, and a military supply chain warning involving camera components aboard Royal Navy K3 Scout vessels.

The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most important oil chokepoint. Before the current disruption, about 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption moved through it, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The K3 Scout investigation found automated heartbeat communications to an IP address in China, but British officials said they found no evidence that sensitive military information or GPS data was transmitted.

Those distinctions matter. A strong argument does not need a larger number or a broader claim. It needs a record the public can trust.