June 18, 2018      5:41 PM

SB: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick declares no civil war in the GOP and he may be correct

A smaller Texas House GOP caucus could prove more compliant for Patrick and Abbott, the latter usually deferring to Patrick for setting an agenda; Democrats would have to ride a “blue wave,” though, that may never materialize

Perhaps every column should now start like this: Before you’re done reading, the president may tweet something that changes almost everything I’m about to say.

In his speech at the RPT convention and again in an email to supporters on Sunday evening, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick – who finished about 15 points behind Gov. Greg Abbott in the primary but remains the spiritual leader of the party – declared there is no civil war among Republicans. Patrick argued that at this point, any assertion to the contrary is solely a media creation.

“As we saw clearly in our Primary Election in March, when it comes to the key issues that are central to the work we are doing in the Legislature in Austin, we are close to unanimity,” Patrick said, pointing to ballot questions voters answered about things like toll roads, abortion, and how the speaker should be chosen.

Setting aside the hair pulling and gnashing of teeth in the Texas GOP Chairman’s race along with the vicious and ineffective attacks lobbed by “conservative” groups and Gov. Greg Abbott against Texas House Republicans leading up to the March primary, let’s entertain the idea that Patrick is correct.

By Scott Braddock

Copyright June 18, 2018, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved