By Joel Langton and Brian Argabright
The 830 Times
Val Verde County’s arm of the Republican Party is worried that two of its candidates in the upcoming March 2022 primaries could find their places on the ballot in jeopardy due to the actions of its former party chair.
Those fears could subside following a planned party election today at 1. At that point, a new party chair could be elected and the two affected candidates – Jimmy McDonald and Esther Chapoy – could have their applications to appear on the ballot for the March 2022 Primary Elections accepted and officially uploaded to the secretary of state’s office.
Frank Lopez Jr., was the Val Verde County Republican Chairman until he filed a letter of intent Dec. 9 to run as an Independent for the 23rd U.S. Congressional seat presently held by Tony Gonzales, a Republican.
At that point, according to James Wesolek, communications director for the Republican Party of Texas, Lopez could no longer serve according to the state’s election code as the party chair because he had affiliated himself with another political party.
But Lopez continued to accept applications for persons to run as Republicans in the upcoming primaries following his filing of the letter of intent. McDonald, who is seeking to the Republican Party nomination for the position of Precinct 2 county commissioner, and Chapoy, who is seeking the Republican Party nomination for the position of county clerk, were the only persons who submitted their applications to Lopez following his own filing with the state.
Wesolek explained this morning that the state’s Republican Party chair had until midnight today to upload the applications to the secretary of state’s office and thereby ensure the candidates officially appeared on the March primary ballots.
“Those applications were received by the deadline, but we have until midnight tonight to upload those to the secretary of state. We can legally still get those two candidates in,” Wesolek said. “We are only looking at the two candidates that came in after Mr. Lopez filed. By electing a new party chair today, that should fix everything. We just have to have their applications in hand by the 13th, which was the deadline. Then there’s some internal review processes to ensure everything was filled out correctly before it’s uploaded to the secretary of state’s office.”
Thursday night, the local party’s Executive Committee met at the Ramada to try and forge a way ahead.
The committee’s primary goal was to find someone to serve as party chair to ensure Chapoy and McDonald would be able to make it on the ballot.
Initially, during the nearly two-hour meeting, two options were discussed — reject Chapoy’s and McDonald’s applications or accept their application.
Fernando Garcia, former Val Verde County Republican Party Chairman, pointed out either plan could put the party in the middle of a lawsuit. If they rejected the applications, Chapoy and McDonald could sue, he said. If they accepted the applications, then their opponents could sue, he added.
He explained that it would also be very likely that the party chair would be named in the suit. Texas Republican officials said they could spend primary funds for lawyer fees. Primary funds are filing fees the candidates pay. Presently, the party has about $2,600 on hand in primary funds.
Chapoy, who attended the meeting, said she would not sue. Lopez reached out to McDonald by phone but he wasn’t available.
During the meeting, several calls were made to Austin to Texas Republican Party officials, trying to find the best way ahead.
A message that came back loud and clear from Austin was the county needed a chairman by midnight Friday to ensure the ballots were properly certified.
Part of what started the issue was Lopez Jr., saw the letter of intent as part of the process but didn’t think he was officially a candidate until he’d fulfilled the second part of the process in late June that would require 500 signatures.
“If I decide to, I can still run for mayor, county judge, or whatever, but the window on this was closing, so I had to start the process,” Lopez Jr., said. “However, if I decide to run for this seat, I have to have a letter of intent filed. So, this was necessary if I intended to do that.”
However, many found it odd that a party official, who had recruited candidates to run for the Republican Party, would run as an independent.
“The primary process is geared towards the person with the most money,” Lopez Jr., said. “I want to make sure conservatives have a real choice in November.”
However, the bottom line was, the Val Verde County Republicans didn’t have a chairman, and no one in the room Thursday had the desire for that role.
Several times during the meeting, Lopez Jr., asked the handful of people gathered around the round table, “Is there anyone willing to step up tonight?” Every time the question was asked it was met with silence.
Towards the end of the meeting, he almost pleaded with the room. “It will only be temporary,” he said.
The group unanimously decided to adjourn until midday Friday. Until then, they would work to find someone willing to be the party chair and then meet again to elect that person and complete the application process for McDonald and Chapoy properly.
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Contact the author at joelalangton@gmail.com
