Former President Donald Trump’s ire for ”Republicans in Name Only” (RINOs) extends beyond just U.S. House and Senate seats, as he chimes in with a “complete and total endorsement” of Texas state Senate candidate Kevin Sparks.
Trump wrote in a statement Tuesday from his Save America PAC:
“Kevin Sparks of the Great State of Texas is running against RINO Texas Sen. Kel Seliger, who is not helpful to our great MAGA Movement and, in fact, seems like the Texas version of Mitt Romney (and that is not good!).
“Kevin is a businessman, loves the people of Midland and West Texas, must win in order to protect our oil and gas Workers, defend our southern border, our military and our vets, and fight for our America First policies.
“Kevin Sparks has my complete and total endorsement!”
Sparks, president of Discovery Operating Inc, a family-owned oil and gas company in Midland, Texas, announced his candidacy Aug. 16.
“At a time when far-left activists seek to nationalize our elections, indoctrinate our kids with so-called critical race theory, and surrender our southern border to the drug cartels, the hard-working families of Senate District 31 deserve a state senator who will proudly defend our conservative values,” Sparks said in a statement.
It is unclear at which point Seliger broke from the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, but he had warned of fractures in the party, he told The New York Times in 2020.
“This has been building for a long, long time,” Seliger, the second-most senior Republican in the Texas Senate, representing the GOP establishment in state, told the Times. “When a party dominates, it also becomes sort of arrogant and exclusive.
”It used to be back in the ’80s and ’90s, let’s all get together in this big Republican tent and be a majority. Increasingly, we’ve been ushering people out of the tent.”
