A group of Republican county party chairs Friday tapped interim state Sen. Brian Birdwell as their party’s Senate nominee for the fall election.

Party chairs from eight of the 10 counties in District 22 attended a meeting in downtown Waco, and all eight picked Birdwell, a retired military officer, as the party’s nominee.

One of the chairs, Hood County’s Randy Shelton, described his support for Birdwell in political and religious terms.

Brian Birdwell was recently sworn in to fill the rest of Kip Averitt’s term.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

In the moments before the nomination vote, Shelton called Birdwell “someone who has God in his heart and someone who will do us proud as conservative Republicans.”

General election candidates typically are determined during party primaries in March.

However, after winning the GOP primary, Sen. Kip Averitt, R-Waco, retired from office citing health concerns. He later pulled his name off the ballot.

Because Democrats did not field a candidate for the race, both major parties were without nominees.

In such instances, state law gives Republican and Democratic chairs the authority to select replacement candidates.

A month ago Birdwell defeated former Sen. David Sibley, R-Waco, in a special election to fill the remainder of Averitt’s term. That outcome was widely interpreted as a demonstration of Republicans’ preference in having Birdwell on the general election ballot.

The 4 p.m. meeting, at the Hilton on Franklin Avenue, was scheduled to start an hour before the start of a conservative “Unity Rally” at the Waco Convention Center, which sits next door to the hotel.

Johnson County chairman Henry Teich made the motion to nominate Birdwell, with McLennan County’s Joe Hinton offering the second.

Hinton said he was swayed by Birdwell’s recent win.

“I’d talked to Brian Birdwell, and he said ‘I’m looking for your support,’ and I said, ‘Brian, you’ve got it because the people voted for you,’ ” Hinton said.

The meeting went smoothly. The proceedings lasted only a few minutes and with little discussion before the vote.

However, the scheduling of and procedures for the meeting caused some confusion.

Party chairs rarely meet to choose replacement nominees, and party rules dictate the procedure.

Hinton said he only learned about the meeting a few hours before it took place. He was out of the county when a staffer at the local GOP headquarters alerted him to the meeting, at which point he made a beeline for Waco.

It also was initially unclear whether the meeting would be open to the public.

A few minutes before the meeting began, State Republican Executive Committee member Janet Jackson informed a reporter the meeting would not be open to the media. When asked for a rationale, she said she would check with someone.

Before Jackson got a response, however, state GOP chairman Steve Munisteri arrived at the hotel and invited the reporter into the meeting.

Ball in Democrats’ court

The Democratic Party now has until late August to pick a candidate, though party officials have not indicated whether they’ll do so or who their choice might be.

Democrat’s discussions have also focused on legal issues surrounding whether Birdwell meets a key residency requirement for the race.

Several prominent Republicans argued during the special election that Birdwell was ineligible, and Averitt went as far as predicting the Democratic Party would knock Birdwell off the general election ballot if given the opportunity.

Birdwell’s detractors have said votes he cast in the state of Virginia put him on the wrong side of a requirement that senators must live in Texas for at least five years to be eligible for office.

Democratic election lawyer Buck Wood said this week that Birdwell’s voting record in Virginia, and particularly a 2006 vote in that state, offers a strong legal argument that Birdwell is ineligible.

“If you vote somewhere else . . . the courts general say you claimed residency there,” Wood said.

McLennan County Democratic chairwoman Karen Petree didn’t tip her hand as to whether the Democrats would nominate a candidate or challenge Birdwell’s candidacy on eligibility grounds.

“With Birdwell in place as the nominee, we will have open, frank and strategic discussions about the course of action for the Democratic Party,” Petree said.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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