“I am very proud in how the Freedom Caucus has developed into proactive legislative force,” White told The Texan, “that leads in the People’s House on commonsense conservative principles to secure our Texas Borders, grow our local prosperity, protect our 10th Amendment state rights, our constitutional firearms rights and religious liberties.”
Caucus chair, Rep. Mayes Middleton (R-Wallisville), told The Texan about the addition, “Rep. White is a stalwart conservative, who has always worked closely with the freedom caucus and fought alongside us for grassroots conservative legislation.”
“We are excited to officially have him as a member of the Caucus.”
White, a six-term state representative, chaired the Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee and was one of the chief movers of the landmark constitutional carry legislation — authored by Freedom Caucus member, Rep. Matt Schaefer (R-Tyler).
Schaefer, the vice-chair of the caucus, said of their addition, “I have fought alongside James White many times for grassroots conservative legislation, and he has never hesitated to jump in with us on controversial matters requiring a solid conservative backbone.”
Last month, White announced he would not seek re-election and then last week jumped into the agriculture commissioner race to challenge incumbent Sid Miller in the GOP primary.
White’s membership with the group will last through at least two special sessions — the first of which begins this week. Only three topics have been confirmed so far by Governor Greg Abbott — who controls whether the legislature can meet for a special session and what issues it can consider. Those are election reform, social media censorship, and a more comprehensive ban on critical race theory.
The Freedom Caucus called for an additional eight agenda items for the first special session, among which include a gender modification ban for children and increased border security measures.
The second special session, slated for the fall, will consider redistricting and the disbursement of $16 billion in federal coronavirus aid.
The Freedom Caucus, which finished its third regular session at the end of May, lost four members during the 86th Session’s interim — two to retirement and two to their own volition. But the group added freshman Rep. Cody Vasut (R-Angleton) before the 87th session and now White, for a brief spell, bringing its total to nine members.
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Brad Johnson
Brad Johnson is a senior reporter for The Texan and an Ohio native who graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2017. He is an avid sports fan who most enjoys watching his favorite teams continue their title drought throughout his cognizant lifetime. In his free time, you may find Brad quoting Monty Python productions and trying to calculate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
