Although early voting began a few days ago for the November 7 election, it is apparently not too soon for Bryan Christ to kick off his reelection campaign for next year’s primary season. Christ, whose chairmanship of the Montgomery County GOP has been heavily criticized, spoke during Citizen’s Forum at city council’s October 25 meeting and asked for votes next March.
Christ told council he was “dragged” before the Texas Supreme Court but that he “prevailed.” He was referring to a writ of mandamus that a conservative majority in the party had filed against him for violating state election law. In his response to the writ, Christ argued the factual disputes in the case precluded mandamus relief. The high court declined to hear the case.
Christ is facing opponent Gwen Withrow, Precinct 72 GOP Chair on the March 2024 primary ballot. After his remarks, she issued this statement: “It was an embarrassment that my opponent would use the forum of a city council meeting to give his fallacious political speech. I was then shocked at his misrepresentation of the position of the Republican Party on primary elections. There has been no attempt by the Republican Party to do away with those primary elections. Chairman Christ, standing before this body and making such a ridiculous and false accusation was disgraceful.”
“Furthermore, Chairman Christ did not prevail in the Supreme Court suit as he claimed….That case was an attempt to force Chairman Christ to perform his duties in listing the correct Precinct Chairman on the Secretary of State website. To date, over 20 Precinct Chairs have been denied their rights …as a result of Chairman Christ’s lawless actions.”
Wendy Yockey (Montgomery County Freedom Caucus President and GOP Vice Chair Precinct 66) said Christ’s comments implied the lawsuit was about keeping RINOs off the ballot, when in fact “the split is over Bryan’s refusal to respect the votes of the majority of the precinct chairs and his hijacking of the Republican name to advance his political action committee and his wife’s lucrative political consultant career.”
Precinct 97 Chair Kim Weber said, “Bryan and Kristin are Montgomery County’s Joe and Hunter. Like Joe is bought and paid for by China and Ukraine, using Hunter, Bryan is bought and paid for by his wife’s clients, through her company, Southern Heritage Consulting. Kristin’s clients want to control the party, remove transparency and silence the conservative precinct chairs. Bryan repeatedly spreading false narratives is the only way they can stay in power. Just like Joe and Hunter, it’s a corrupt family business.”
County GOP Vice Chairman Jon Bouche posted a short video titled “The Gray Area” explaining how rogue party chairmen have been able to violate state laws as well as state and local party rules without consequences. He said, “When the Texas Supreme Court declined to hear the case, it effectively sent the dispute back to be resolved by the state GOP and local party.”
Bouche noted other complaints about Christ involve the way he abruptly closed the longtime county party headquarters in downtown Conroe without notifying the majority of the County Executive Committee. Bouche said that Christ immediately began promoting a new “Republican Clubhouse” on Austin St. in Conroe as a replacement for headquarters. The new facility is affiliated with the Montgomery County Republican Club, a Political Action Committee (PAC), founded by Chairman Christ and his wife. Chairman Christ is the treasurer of this PAC.
