Houston scraps Texas GOP’s in-person convention due to virus

HOUSTON (AP) — Houston officials on Wednesday canceled the Texas Republican Party’s in-person convention, saying the spread of the coronavirus made it impossible to hold the event as scheduled.

Mayor Sylvester Turner said the city’s lawyers exercised provisions in the contract that the Texas GOP signed to rent the downtown convention center for a three-day event to have started July 16, with committee meetings earlier in the week. Turner, a Democrat, previously resisted calls to cancel the convention and insisted Wednesday that his decision wasn't driven by politics.

“The public health concerns outweighed anything else," Turner said.

State Republican chair James Dickey said the party was weighing its legal options and accused Turner of trying to deny the GOP's “critical electoral function.”

The fight over whether thousands of Republican supporters will converge on downtown Houston as the city’s hospitals are overwhelmed is a snapshot of the broader political tensions that have underscored Texas’ handling of the pandemic.

Gov. Greg Abbott, the state’s top Republican, had publicly deferred to state party leaders who last week voted by a 2-to-1 margin to go forward with an in-person event, though he had not committed to attending the convention.

Abbott has faced pressure from both sides while managing a coronavirus crisis that has surged in recent weeks. In May, he lifted restrictions on gatherings and began to reopen business over the objections of Democratic leaders in several Texas cities. The numbers of confirmed virus cases and deaths began to spiral in June and reached new daily highs this week.

Last week, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he was through listening to the nation’s top infectious disease expert, saying Dr. Anthony Fauci...