Not totally surprised by this:
As a tea party leader, I’ve wanted to be independent of the Republican Party for many reasons. I wanted to be free to hold Republicans accountable. I wanted to avoid the charge of being a Republican auxiliary. I wanted to focus on the core beliefs of tea party: fiscal responsibility, free markets, following the Constitution. I handed the precinct over to another passionate volunteer so as not to shortchange either the tea party or the Republican Party. But I’ve stayed involved in Republican politics, even serving on the Rules Committee at the Republican Party of Texas’s State Convention last summer.
But my county is in trouble. The largest county in the largest Red State has been turning blue before my eyes. I’ve seen what progressive policies are doing in other states, in other counties in my own state. I’ve seen what they’re doing to us as a nation. And I can’t watch from the sidelines anymore.
I don’t have the confidence required to believe the current leadership in the Harris County Republican Party is able to handle the Battleground Texas assault, the technology gap, the lack of strategic partnerships or the messaging shortcomings we face. And I refuse to sit through another election cycle wishing I could do more.
It is no longer a choice to fight. I am compelled to fight.
I’m announcing that I am going to run for Harris County Republican Party Chair in 2014.
I say not totally because I saw her at a meeting a week ago and she said that she was seriously considering the idea. But still somewhat surprised that she would subject herself to what will be an incredibly nasty campaign against her by the pay-to-play slates that rule Harris County Republican Party primaries.
Other than the nastiness that is certain to come her way, it will be an interesting race to watch. Will Jared Woodfill run again? All signs point to that. If he runs, will he participate in the debate or run like he did last year and refuse to be seen at Republican events during the primary season, relying on his many television appearances and name recognition to defeat Paul Simpson. And speaking of Paul, will he try for the third time? After all, they say that the third time is the charm and remember, Jared didn’t exactly crush Paul in 2012, winning 53{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} to 47{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986}, with a 26{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} undervote in that race. Will some as yet unnamed candidate try to force a runoff, where anything can happen? Who knows.
What I do know is that Felicia is a tireless worker and will bring a lot of energy into the race, as well as a younger voting block and huge social media presence. She completely and thoroughly understands that the HCRP has been losing ground because of Jared’s inability to convince the Westside and older Republicans of the need to expand the party and open it up to those people that, as Ronald Reagan would say, agree with you 80{997ab4c1e65fa660c64e6dfea23d436a73c89d6254ad3ae72f887cf583448986} of the time. How she plans to bridge the gap between the social conservatives that rule the party and the liberty minded people that want the party to grow will be critical to her success or lack thereof.
I’m looking forward to watching her grow as a candidate, just as I’ve watched her grow as a Tea Party leader, political influencer, social media maven, and educator. Obviously, she’ll have to earn my vote, just as any other challenger for this position would because it is such a critical position for the future of the Republicans in Harris County. In a perfect world, Jared would drop out of the race and allow Felicia, Paul (if he so chooses), and others to fight it out and improve the chances that the Harris County Republican Party will not become irrelevant in a few years.
Good luck Felicia. And put on that battle armor because you are going to need it.
Facebook: FeliciaCravensforHcrpChair
Luck isn’t going to win the race. Tireless work is. Felicia has been a tireless worker. She’s been all the things you mentioned in the article. She’s also been something that has been missing for a long time in HCRP – a leader.
Jared and his Keystone Gestapo led by Sergeant Schultz (Bill Kneer) will have to fight this time. Their baseless accusations will be met with a strong fact checking effort and a stronger record of activism.
Yeah, get your popcorn ready (if you need some more BSA popcorn let me know and you can help Pack 987 too) cuz this campaign is going to be damned interesting.
I’m glad to see her running. That isn’t to say that I’m ready to endorse her — there may be somebody else out there who will run and we still don’t know if the incumbent is going to seek reelection — but I’m glad to see continued grassroots movement to shake both the establishment and the pay-for-endorsement slate-makers who are the moral equivalent of the moneychangers Christ drove from the Temple.
all her anti republican statements will bury her, but she's a faded figure so its a cynical grab for lost attention. The HCRP really has no powerto begin with…
It's guys like you who treat legitimate criticism of ineptitude and impotence as apostasy that are causing the party to go extinct in the first place. Yeah, HCRP has no power to begin with now. Great job guys…
Run Felicia Winfree Cravens, run! We need leaders. Leaders that are willing to go out there and work hard, and spread the gospel of liberty.
With Felicia at the helm, it will be a disaster. Her credentials are are more libertarian than republican and we’ve seen enough of the republican party being moved to the center. Think democrat lite on social issues and Rince Preibus and the RNC are doing a great job of that! Her loyalty will not be to the harris county republican party, it will be to her favored people, which means cowtowing to get on her good side. As much as a want Jared replaced by a leader, Felicia is not it.
Hi, Janet, thanks for stopping by. Can you elaborate as to why you think Felicia would move the party closer to the center? I’ve known her for awhile now and I don’t see that happening at all. Her loyalty has been to the HCRP for the entire time I’ve known her. She’s spent hundreds of hours training people to be precinct chairs and trying to get Jared to include a broader base of like minded people.
Thanks again for stopping by. Dave
At this early date no one can forecast a winner in a battle next year for HCRP Chair, but one thing is for sure, if Felicia Cravens runs, the race will be spirited. I also think we could finally count on a thorough airing of what ales our local Party and discussion of suggestions to fix it, including the ending of the stranglehold the endorsement slates have on the Primary. These endorsers may have at one time been guided by wholesome thoughts but that agenda has disappeared and a money and control agenda has been it’s replacement. The status quo will and cannot stand. Time is running out fast for Harris County Republicans.
Hope you figure what “ails” the HCRP, it’s not indulging in drink.
The chairman must first and foremost be the lead fundraiser, and hcrp has not been able to raise funds from any but the insiders who have bought the party. How to convince the folks to fund this entity, how?
And how to sell the proper R philosophy of truly limited gov., a live and let live attitude, maximum personal and economic liberty, how Felicia, when so many of the purported party faithful lard the platform with micro-managing nonsense and their personal tyranical theocracies?
David,
Thank you for giving me an addition piece of ammo against the direct primary… “pay-to-play slates” – a complete perversion of the right to vote, and an attempt to make primary voters into automatons.
Where is the outrage?
If people want to understand why our political process is so dysfunction today – and why we are so far away from anything resembling limited government – they need look no further than the direct primary system its effects.
I realize this will be a shocker for the “party establishment” types…
But I predict the direct primary system will be overturned within the next decade or we will cease to exist as a Republic
By the way, I will be presenting this thesis in detail at Liberty on the Rocks, May 30th.
Carl