Texas GOP Set to Limit Its Primaries to Registered Republicans Only

The Texas Republican Party voted over the weekend to limit GOP primaries in Texas to registered Republican voters.

The rule change would mandate that voters register as Republicans with the Texas Secretary of State prior to voting in the primaries.

The move comes as senior Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, is facing a primary challenger in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in what is shaping up as an ugly primary. The rule would take effect ahead of the Senate Republican primary in 2026.

If the GOP primary is closed off to voters not registered as Republicans, it would appear to benefit Paxton. A May poll found that Paxton performed better among likely Republican primary voters surveyed.

The polling also found, however, that Cornyn fared better in several hypothetical general election matchups against Democrats than Paxton, suggesting the Senate incumbent is generally favored among less conservative voters. Paxton’s potential greater vulnerability to a Democrat challenger has been raised as a liability for Republicans in their effort to maintain a Senate GOP majority and “maximize Trump’s down-ballot coattails in Texas.” 

In the Texas capital city of Austin, the State Republican Executive Committee assembled for its second- quarter meeting on Friday and Saturday. According to a press statement issued by the party, the overwhelming majority of members voted to amend Rule 46 of its bylaws. That’s a crucial step in the process to limit participation in the party’s primary elections to registered Republicans only. The move follows the 2024 Texas GOP State Convention, which saw a majority of delegates vote to close the primary. 

“As chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, I am fully committed to upholding the rules, priorities, and platform adopted by our delegates,” Abraham George, the chairman of the state party, said in a statement, adding:

This is not just about a rule change—it’s about protecting the integrity of our elections and defending the voice of our conservative base.

In its statement about the vote, the state party said that it would not allow its nomination process to be “hijacked,” and said that for too long “open primaries have allowed Democrats and progressive activists to manipulate Republican outcomes, weakening our candidates, and diluting our values.”  

Some have characterized the push for the change to the primary system as an assertion of the conservatives in the party.

“It says something about this battle, this civil war that’s broken out in the Republican Party of Texas that one side has gotten so concerned that they haven’t been able to solidify their control of the party that they want to close their primary,” Jon Taylor, a professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, told The Texas Tribune.

Indeed, in a state where no Democrat has won statewide office since 1994, it seemed likely that ideological battles would play out within the dominant political party.

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