I want to tell you about my first time at a Texas Federation of Republican Women (TFRW) Convention (October 12-14, 2023) to encourage you to consider going to their 2025 Convention. Wow, what a wonderful weekend! The theme was Rosie the Rivetor, the iconic woman showing her fist curl during WWII letting everyone know women of the USA were a force to be reckoned with – just as we are today. There was a sea of red jackets and dresses with red, white, and blue bling everywhere. And then there were the Rosie the Rivetor getups – so fun! These women love God, love our country, and love our way of life.

We had many great speakers in this well-organized event. We heard from Ted Cruz, Dan Patrick, and Governor Abbott. We got the news that five of six items on the agenda for the Governor’s third special session were passed in the Texas Senate just that past week. They were: 1) universal school choice, 2) pay raises for teachers — especially those in rural schools that make up 65% of Texas schools, 3) $5.1 million for border security, 4) forbidding vaccine mandates by private employers in Texas, and 5) an anti- trafficking bill.

I loved hearing twice from our Railroad Commissioner, Christie Craddock. Christie makes so much sense when speaking about the oil and gas industry in Texas. Riley Gaines spoke to us – what a strong young woman. I enjoyed hearing from Reps. Brandon Creighton and Mays Middleton. Rep. Steve Munisteri told us about Angeline Eberly and how her firing of the canon in 1842 “into the General Land Office Building, which aroused the town to what it considered to be theft. The ensuing conflict became known as the Archive War, which was won by the Austinites and preserved Austin as capital of Texas and keeper of the archives” .This was exactly what was needed at the time. 11,000 women like Angeline Eberly make up TFRW today.

We heard how TFRW, founded 68 years ago, was instrumental in turning Texas from 149 Democrats and 1 Republican in the Texas House in 1960, to a majority of Republicans in the House and a supermajority of Republicans in the Texas Senate now. We were told the women of TFRW asked our legislators, “What can we do for you?” and then proceeded to get their requests met. One of the judges who spoke told us how the upcoming election in November 2024 is vitally important to our courts – especially our appellate courts since more than half of the appellate judges are up for re-election.

We had opportunities to talk with our elected officials, candidates, legislators, and judges. There were numerous conservative organizations at the booths with educational material and bling. I learned that the function of the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC https://texasgop. org) is to govern the Republican Party of Texas (RPT).

I met attendees Victoria and Joann from Tomball and Carol from El Paso. It was a real pleasure getting to talk to these dynamic women, plus I had the opportunity to know more deeply the women I traveled with: Gail, Venita, and Donnie.

At our SD7 caucus, we elected a new senate district director for TFRW: Donnie Lubeck from TEXAS TEA. Funny story: Ronnye Cowell has been our fantastic SD7 director until this latest round of redistricting that left us without a district director. So two women, Bonnie and Donnie ran for this position. My take? Maybe your first name should end in “onnie” to run for the District 7 Director position.

It was a powerful few days and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m looking forward to the 2025 TFRW Convention and hope you will consider joining me. [https://www.tfrw.org/events/convention/]

Diane Houk