Texas Republicans Vote on Call for Independence Referendum

Texas Republicans voted on Saturday on a motion over whether the state party should back a referendum on the Lone Star State seceding from the United States and becoming an independent country.

Under the title of “state sovereignty,” the proposed motion said “Texas retains the right to secede from the United States, and the Texas Legislature should be called upon to pass a referendum consistent thereto.” It was one of a large number of motions voted on at the Republican Party of Texas annual convention in San Antonio, which took place from May 23 to 25. Once the votes have been tallied up, the party is expected to finalize its policy platform this week.

The Texas GOP caused a major stir in 2022 when it incorporated a similar motion calling for an independence referendum into its party platform following a convention vote. In 2023, then Republican Texas State Representative Bryan Slaton introduced legislation calling for a referendum on whether the state “should reassert its status as an independent nation,” though this failed to get out of the State Affairs committee.

Surging tensions between federal and Texan authorities have sparked a renewed debate over whether the state should revert to its status as a fully independent nation, which it held from 1836 until 1845. In January, the Supreme Court ruled federal agents could remove razor wire placed along the Texan-Mexican border by the state’s National Guard on the orders of Governor Greg Abbott, in a bid to discourage illegal immigration. In response, Abbott said his state was being “invaded” and invoked its “constitutional authority to defend and protect itself.”

In May, Abbott instructed universities and community colleges in Texas to ignore an update to Title IX equality legislation by the Biden administration that would ban discrimination based on gender identity in educational institutions.

On Saturday, the Texas GOP also voted on a number of other proposals including a plan to “abolish abortion by immediately securing the right to life and equal protection of the laws to all preborn children from the moment of fertilization.”

Other proposals would declare transgender surgery on minors to be child abuse and also ban “so-called ‘gender affirming’ medical or mental health intervention” for those aged between 18 and 26.

Newsweek contacted the Republican Party of Texas for comment outside of usual working hours via the media inquiry form on its official website.

On Thursday, the Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM), which is campaigning for Texas to become an independent state, shared photographs of its supporters holding up “TEXIT NOW!” signs inside the state Republican convention.

In a post on its official website, the group said: “TNM leaders actively engaged with delegates and attendees throughout the convention, presenting a meticulously structured case for TEXIT. They outlined numerous benefits of independence, such as economic prosperity, self-governance, and tailored policies that meet Texans’ unique needs.

“This strategic engagement was crucial, aiming to educate and persuade key decision-makers within the Republican Party to endorse a referendum on Texas independence.”

In February, a survey of 814 eligible voters conducted for Newsweek found that in a hypothetical independence referendum, 23 percent of Texans would vote for the state to become “an independent country,” while 67 percent would support Texas remaining “a state within the United States.”