In a hearing yesterday morning, the Republican Party of Texas made a motion to dismiss the case it filed to omit Congressman Blake Farenthold’s name from the list of candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Congressional District 27. The Party made the motion after attorneys representing the Secretary of State’s office affirmed that they do not have the authority to compel the Party to place a name on the ballot.

Since Congressman Farenthold had formally requested to withdraw from the race, and the Party believes our constitutional right to freedom of association allows us to do so in this specific instance, we have granted his withdrawal request.

We are glad that we were able to achieve the common-sense result that all parties wanted and that respects our right of freedom of association.

Chairman James Dickey issued the following statement:

“I am pleased to be able to grant Congressman Blake Farenthold’s request to withdraw his name from the Republican primary. We look forward to electing a strong Republican to represent Texas’ 27th District in 2018.”