Former Dallas County state Rep. Matt Rinaldi re-elected as Texas Republican Party Chair

Matt Rinaldi, who has been critical of Gov. Greg Abbott, was unopposed in easily winning reelection as chair of the Texas Republican Party on Friday.

The former Dallas County representative was reelected to serve a full term as party chair at the Texas Republican Convention in Houston. Rinaldi had announced his intention to run for reelection in March with two-thirds of the state’s delegates endorsing his candidacy.

Rinaldi was first elected as party chair in 2021, after former chair Allen West resigned. West was highly critical of Abbott, and mounted a losing primary challenge against him in the governor’s race.

Rinaldi has also been critical of Abbott, though less so than his predecessor. His reelection as chair comes as Abbott seeks to unify his party behind his campaign for a third term as governor. A new Quinnipiac University poll shows Abbott losing ground to Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. The poll showed Abbott up five points over O’Rourke, a significant drop from his 15-point lead in December.

“Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart, this is truly an honor being your party chair,” Rinaldi told the general session of the convention. “As I serve a full term as party chair, I promise to continue to manage a very strong party, to take us through our 2022 election victories, and to continue to advocate for our legislative priorities.”

Rinaldi represented northwest Dallas County in the Texas House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. He lost his bid for reelection in 2018 to Democrat Julie Johnson.

Though Rinaldi did not face opposition, the race for vice chair was contested after current Vice Chair Cat Parks chose not to seek another term.

Dana Myers, vice chair of the Harris County Republicans was elected as vice chair, winning out in a three-way race between former Republican Party Vice Chair Alma Jackson and Hidalgo County Republicans Chair Adrienne Peña-Garza.