- In its latest platform document, the Texas GOP has suggested that it might secede from the US.
- In the document, the state GOP called for a referendum on secession in 2023.
- The referendum will determine if Texas should "reassert its status as an independent nation."
The Texas GOP is pushing for a referendum on seceding from the US — a split that could lead to the state becoming an independent nation.
The state GOP outlined its intention to press for such a referendum in a document from its Platforms and Resolutions committee, wherein it specified its demand that the state holds a vote on the matter. The document was produced in connection with the Texas Republican Party's convention in Houston, during which it also voted "overwhelmingly" to reject the legitimacy of the 2020 election.
The document, which contains a section on state sovereignty, calls for the state to hold a vote and outlines the Texas Republican Party's opinion that the federal government has "impaired" its right to locally self-govern.
Per the document, the Texas GOP proposed that any "federally mandated legislation that infringes upon the 10th Amendment rights of Texas should be ignored, opposed, refused, and nullified."
"Texas retains the right to secede from the United States, and the Texas Legislature should be called upon to pass a referendum consistent thereto," the document reads.
In the document, the Texas GOP also urged state lawmakers to bring a vote to the people of Texas "to determine whether or not the State of Texas should reassert its status as an independent nation." Per the state GOP's proposal, this vote would be on the ballot in 2023.
On top of its call for secession, the Texas GOP also asked for state lawmakers to look into prosecuting election fraud.
"We urge the passage of a constitutional amendment that gives the Texas Attorney General concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute election fraud along with the county District Attorneys," the GOP's platform document read.
While the Texas GOP has not outlined when exactly such a vote might take place, this is not the first occasion that the idea of secession has been floated. In November, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said the state might secede if the situation in the US becomes "hopeless."
"We're not there yet, and if there comes a point where it's hopeless, then I think we take NASA, we take the military, we take the oil," Cruz said.
However, according to the Constitution, Texas is not able to unilaterally leave the Union.