The Texas GOP lost an election. So now they are trying to steal the office back before the winner even sits down.
Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison wants outgoing Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session to gut the governor’s emergency powers before Democrat Gina Hinojosa is sworn in. His reasoning? She might “destroy liberty in Texas by executive fiat.”
She has not taken office. She has not signed a single order. She has not declared a single emergency. But in Harrison’s world, the mere fact that a Democrat won means the rules must be changed immediately.
The Hypocrisy
Here is what Harrison will not tell you. These powers have existed for decades. Republican governors have used them. Greg Abbott used them. Harrison did not demand a special session then. He did not file a bill then. He did not call anyone a dictator then.
He waited until his party lost. And now he wants to change the rules. That is not principle. That is a tantrum.
“If these are not revoked, Gina Hinojosa will assume not just the powers our state constitution bestows upon a Governor, but will, in effect, inherit nearly all the powers of a dictator,” Harrison told Fox News Digital.
A dictator. The first Latina governor of Texas is a dictator. Before she has done anything. Before she has even been sworn in. That is what Republicans are saying.
What She Promised
Hinojosa ran on using those emergency powers to help working families. She promised to halt the state’s gas and diesel taxes and freeze residential electricity rates. Those are the policies Harrison is trying to take away. Those are the powers he is trying to strip.
So let us be clear about what is happening. A Republican lawmaker is trying to take away the tools a newly elected Democrat needs to lower costs for struggling Texans. He is doing it before she takes office. He is doing it because his party lost. And he is calling her a dictator while he does it.
The Trump Factor
Trump blamed Abbott for the loss, calling him a “RINO” on Truth Social. “If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn’t have lost.”
So the Republicans lost. Trump blamed his own guy. And now they are all scrambling to change the rules before the Democrat takes over. It would be funny if it were not so pathetic
The Bottom Line
A Texas Republican lawmaker is pushing to strip the governor’s emergency powers before Democrat Gina Hinojosa takes office. Rep. Brian Harrison wants Gov. Greg Abbott to call a special session to limit those powers. He says Hinojosa would have “nearly all the powers of a dictator.” She has not taken office yet.
My Opinion
The Texas GOP just gave us the most pathetic display of sore loserdom in modern American politics.
Gina Hinojosa won. That is it. That’s her crime. She ran for governor and won. And Brian Harrison’s response is to strip her of the powers of the office before she even sits in the chair.
He calls it “restoring separation of powers” and “limiting emergency powers.” He says he has been worried about these powers for years. But if that were true, why did he not demand action when Greg Abbott held the office? Why did he not push his bill when a Republican was signing executive orders and declaring emergencies? Why did he wait until a Democrat won?
Because he is a hypocrite. That is why.
He did not care about separation of powers then. He cares about power now. He was fine with a Republican governor having sweeping emergency authority but is not fine with a Democrat having it.
What makes this truly offensive is that Hinojosa ran on using emergency powers to help working families. She promised to halt the state’s gas and diesel taxes and to freeze residential electricity rates. These are the policies that would actually improve people’s lives. And these are the powers Harrison is trying to take away.
So let us be clear about what is happening here. A Republican lawmaker is trying to strip a newly elected Latina governor of the tools she needs to lower costs for struggling Texans. He is doing it before she takes office. He is doing it because his party lost and he is calling her a dictator while he does it.
The message here is that in Texas, Republicans are fine with executive power as long as they are the ones using it. The moment a Democrat wins, the rules change. The game is rigged. And they do not care who knows it.
Texas deserves better than this. It deserves leaders who respect the will of the voters. It deserves leaders who do not try to rig the system when they lose. But until Republicans learn that lesson, they will keep doing exactly what they are doing.
