Tea party and GOP establishment battling again in Texas House races

Texas Republicans are headed for more battles over whether the Legislature should swerve harder to the right, with as many as 30 House races in the March primary to pit tea party conservatives against more traditional Republicans.

Establishment Republicans are hoping Texas’ new relevance in the GOP presidential nominating battle will generate a bigger turnout than usual — and help better-known candidates at the expense of inexperienced challengers.

Staunch conservatives, though, hope disgruntled Texans who are drawn to presidential hopefuls such as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz will dominate the upcoming primary. They note that very conservative legislative candidates did very well in the 2014 midterm elections, especially on the Senate side.

Primary contests took their final shape Monday, with the passing of a key deadline. And they will continue a trend of the last few years: The state has been Republican-dominated for nearly two decades, but since the tea party movement emerged nationwide, the governing party has seen increasingly tense fights between traditional, business-oriented Republicans and those seeking to slash government spending and push to the right on social issues.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/state-politics/20151214-tea-party-and-gop-establishment-battling-again-in-texas-house-races.ece