Winning over 60% of the vote, Gwen Withrow solidly defeated incumbent GOP county chair Bryan Christ. During her campaign, Withrow promised she would “move past the drama and discord that has been surrounding our Montgomery Republican party for more than a few years now and work together” to earn people’s trust and confidence. She was endorsed by high ranking leaders within the party including state GOP chair Matt Rinaldi, Attorney General Ken Paxton, talk show hosts Chad Prather and Michael Berry, along with a majority of local precinct chairs.

Notwithstanding the highly publicized division within the party under Christ’s leadership and despite hearing from many precinct chairs (including Betty Anderson, precinct 31) as to why they had no confidence in Christ during a city council meeting last November, the entire council (with the exception of Charlie Bradt) publicly endorsed Christ.

Although Betty Anderson was challenged by Christ supporter Suzanne Adams for the chairmanship of precinct 31,  Anderson easily sailed to victory, gaining more than two-thirds of the vote. Anderson said she is hopeful for unity within the party under Withrow’s new leadership.

Predictably, the same council members who endorsed Christ (Mayor Escoto, councilmen Fletcher, Raymaker, Pollard and McLeod) all gave their support to Suzanne Adams. Former council member Ken Smith proudly posted on Facebook that even “newly elected” councilman Frank Robinson endorsed Adams. But, Robinson was not elected and never will be elected in 2024 because city elections were cancelled, due to all candidates being unopposed. Robinson will take the place of outgoing Mike McLeod in May simply because no one else filed to run for that position. Smith (who sat on council for 22 years) vigorously campaigned for Adams saying it was “time for a change” because Anderson had been in her position for 18 years.

Although Christ and Adams claimed to be “trusted conservatives,” they were supported by the Texans for Opportunity & Prosperity PAC (TOP PAC) which is funded primarily by the Las Vegas Sands Corporation.

Christ was also supported by Secure Our Border NOW PAC and Texans for Lawsuit Reform. More information on these groups is here. Both groups are associated with Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan who will face a run off election against Trump-backed David Covey in May.

Montgomery County GOP vice chairman Jon Bouche said, “The importance of this Chair race was evidenced by the amount of money that poured into the county from deceptively named RINO organizations like the TOP PAC and the Secure Our Border Now PAC who were all trying desperately to defeat the conservatives in Montgomery County. Sands Las Vegas is leading the way in trying to get gambling in Texas. This was a real David versus Goliath encounter. Thankfully, the grassroots were able to get their message out to the voters and the RINO threat was soundly defeated last night.”