Closed Primaries
Case Filings
Chip Hunt; Republican Party of Texas v. State of Texas; Jane Nelson, No. 2:25-cv-00200-Z (N.D. Tex., Amarillo Division)
September 2025 — Case Filed
October 2025 — Consent Judgment & Motion to Dismiss
November 2025 — Replies & Oppositions
July 2026 — RPT Convention Ratification
September 2026 — Motion to Supplement the Complaint
Educational Material
Understanding the constitutional and historical case for closed primaries
The Right of Association Doesn’t Wait for the Legislature
By Rachel Ann Palmer Hooper (@RAPHOOPTX)
Texas has run open primaries for generations, letting non-Republicans help choose Republican nominees. Drawing on California Democratic Party v. Jones and Tashjian v. Republican Party of Connecticut, this piece traces 65 years of failed closed-primary bills and argues the First Amendment right of association does not require legislative permission. The Republican Party of Texas federal lawsuit, filed September 5, 2025, is now the live vehicle for that right.
Read the full article →Closing Texas Republican Primaries: Historic
By Rachel Ann Palmer Hooper (@RAPHOOPTX)
A history of the fight to close the Texas Republican primary: the 2021 sneak attack that tried to strip RPT authority to elect its own leadership, the RPT 2022 move to sever its rules from state statute, the 72%-plus 2024 ballot proposition mandate, and the 2024 convention 26-4 passage of Rule 46 closing the primary to registered Republicans only.
Read the full article →