As the primary election grows near, the tension between the current Ector County Republican Party (ECRP) leadership and the Ronnie Lewis/Donna Kelm faction has continued to draw attention from Ector County voters. Lewis/Kelm and their hand-picked candidates are outspoken in their desire to dismantle the current ECRP and both sides are claiming that they represent the Republican Party.
While the Lewis/Kelm ticket has thrown out a wide variety of anti-establishment and conspiracy theory rhetoric in their claim that change is necessary, current ECRP board members who were elected on the Republican ticket deny the Lewis/Kelm claims against them and insist their agenda is to strengthen the ECRP with deep red Republicans who embody Christian conservative values.
As evidence of their deeply conservative credentials, current ECRP members point to a wide variety of causes they have supported and championed such as the “Sanctuary City For The Unborn” ordinance, and the recently passed city ordinance prohibiting future mask/vaccine/business closures. Current Republican board members are also quick to point out that during the term of current County Chair Tisha Crow, Republican voter turnout has surged and there are currently only two Democrats holding public office in Ector County.
Central to the arguments of both sides seems to lie one question: Are Democrats infiltrating the ECRP by disguising themselves as Republicans?
Just last week, Texas Monthly published an article on one of the key issues facing Lone Star State politics: open primaries. Unlike in many states, Texas voters don’t have to declare their affinity for one party over another. Texas voters can freely move from supporting Republicans in the primary and then move back over to vote for a Democrat in the November election.
Republican leaders have been increasingly warning Texans that the Democrats are not focusing on their next to zero chance of overtaking the state’s long-standing GOP leadership. Instead, they are taking advantage of Texas’ open primaries to cross over and vote for moderate to liberal candidates that are, in their policies and beliefs, more aligned with liberal Democrats than conservative Republicans.
Multiple elections within the state have proven this true.
In a special election runoff in 2021, Susan Wright faced Jake Ellzey. Wright was backed by Senator Cruz and former president Donald Trump, while Ellzey was known for his bipartisan stance. Nearly 5,400 Democrats voted in the Republican primary and Ellzey won the election by 2,500 votes. In a more recent special election runoff in House District 2, Jill Dutton won against Brent Money. Dutton was backed by centrist House leadership and Money was backed by Governor Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Senator Cruz. In this election, 267 Democrats voted in the Republican primary, and Dutton won by 111 votes. Former State Senator Don Huffines responded to the election results saying, “The question isn’t whether Jill Dutton and her Democrat friends stole the special election but if Republicans are willing to let them steal it again.”
Ector County Republican Party Chairwoman Tisha Crow has repeatedly asserted that her agenda is to continue strengthening the ECRP and ensure that elected officials adhere to the Texas Republican Party Platform. Crow has been very vocal on the issues raised in the Texas Monthly article and has continued to work hard to preserve a truly conservative hold on Ector County. She stated she has no time for Republicans In Name Only (RINOs) nor liberals – whether they claim to be Republicans or not.
“We hear a lot about DEI – Diversity, Equity, Inclusion – these days – even in politics. I have re-coined this as DIE because that’s exactly what will happen to our Republican Party if we try to include everyone regardless of their beliefs. We will die. Period. There are many even locally that want the big tent.” current GOP Chair Tisha Crow told Odessa Headlines. “I want a party that is diverse for sure – full of people of every age, color, ethnicity, and socio economic status. But, and this is very important, we must all believe the same things. We must all support every plank in the Republican platform. If we’re willing to accept any and all beliefs our Party will be destroyed.”
Chair Crow and the ECRP Board have advocated for closed primaries while Lewis’ sister Lori voiced support for open primaries stating in a recent Facebook post she feels open primaries “are beneficial”.
In fact, during the 2022 Ector County Commissioner race, the ECRP pumped out postcards against Ryan Patton who was running against long time Republican Precinct 2 Commissioner Greg Simmons. The postcard focused on the facts of Ryan’s Democratic voting record and public comments which clearly illustrated his liberal tendencies. In the end Simmons won re-election by a landslide.
Now, Ronnie Lewis and his team are openly targeting Crow and other ECRP officials, alternately claiming that the ECRP is either too right wing or is being taken over by Democrats.
In his efforts to remove current ECRP Chair Crow and a large number of current precinct Chairs, Lewis has written almost daily columns in the Odessa American (OA) and continues to blast out an endless stream of social media posts and comments under a variety of Facebook profiles where he openly declares war on the ECRP.
Early in his campaign Lewis claimed the current ECRP is equivalent to a cabal and warned residents that offices need to be filled with his proposed candidates to prevent extreme right-wingers from controlling Ector County. Lewis stated that they “need to be removed” and “people are organizing as we speak.” In a Facebook comment with local Democratic operative Zach Pfalzgraf , Lewis also stated that “both parties can join in and clean this up by crossing over and voting candidates out.”
Now, it seems, the Lewis/Kelm strategy has shifted as they have become intent on confusing voters by implying that the ECRP candidates are somehow colluding with local Democrats.
On social media several voters have expressed concerns that while Lewis is loud in his opposition to the current office holders, he hasn’t made clear what his ultimate agenda is. However, in an “Our View” piece filed by the Odessa American on February 2, 2024 one of the Lewis/Kelm supporters, Tim Edgmon, let the cat out of the bag:
Edgmon said that thanks to Donna Kelm stepping up he’s convinced there will be enough momentum next November to get Joven, Councilmember Denise Swanner and Councilmember Mark Matta off the city council.
“We need to get at least two of those three and we can take over the council and undo everything that they’ve done,” Edgmon said.
It appears that the real end goal is not the removal of ECRP leaders but to undermine and undo the work that the ECRP did during the 2020 elections to sweep entrenched incumbents out of City Hall and clean up the mess left behind. It has been widely reported that this cleanup effort resulted in the removal of the City Manager and the removal, resignation, or retirement of many city department heads. It also resulted in the institution of new cost saving policies such as zero based budgeting.
Misinformation and disinformation is proving to be the driving force behind the Lewis/Kelm ticket. They have continued to make false claims that all of the current precinct chairs – with the exception of their candidate, Richard Pierce – have been appointed by Party Chair Tisha Crow. Despite this claim being debunked repeatedly, it appears on almost every message Lewis and Kelm post. Texas Election Code 172.021 and the Texas Constitution Article 3 defines the process of filling vacant precinct chair seats and the Ector County GOP has followed this process each time a seat was filled.
Another recurring theme alleges that the ECRP endorsed a competitor against current State Representative Brooks Landgraf and launched a smear campaign against him. This, too, is false. The ECRP refused to endorse any candidate in the last State Representative race after reports surfaced that Landgraf had been involved in an illicit affair. The only action taken by the ECRP was to issue the following statement:
As the Ector County Republican Party Executive Board, we are disturbed by the serious allegations of sexual improprieties by State Representative Brooks Landgraf.
On two separate occasions, each with ample advance notice, the Ector County Republican Party asked Mr. Landgraf to meet with the Executive Board to discuss these allegations and we are disturbed and frustrated by Mr. Landgraf’s unwillingness to meet with us.
We continue to call on Mr. Landgraf to address these serious allegations to the voters of House District 81.
Social media comments and the vast collection of articles that Lewis and supporters of the Lewis/Kelm ticket have written provide additional clues about their real intentions although they too are often filled with misinformation.
Indeed, just from the sheer volume of published comments which are pinned to the top of their Facebook feed, it is clear that the Odessa American is working in lockstep with the Lewis/Kelm ticket.
Lewis’ connection to the OA editorial staff was revealed in a Facebook comment made by his sister Lori. A user questioned why the OA had run many letters from Lewis but had denied publication of a letter penned by Tisha Crow. Lori quickly responded that OA only accepts letters and that Crow had submitted a letter with screenshots and photos. As Crow had never commented on why the letter was rejected by the OA, the only way Lori could have known this was by the OA revealing this information to her or her brother.
The actual ownership of the Odessa American continues to be under a cloud with OA Editor Laura Dennis recently stating in an article that the OA has “local owners” and then quickly backing off this statement and saying that AIM Media owns the OA. Investigation shows that this is only partially true. Various government documents obtained by Odessa Headlines via FOIA requests reveal that the OA is in fact owned, at least in part, by a stacked layer of corporations which seem to be designed to hide the true ownership of the newspaper. Such obscured and stacked corporate ownership schemes are a favorite of liberal influencers, such as George Soros, who continue to spend millions attempting to influence politics at all levels including local.
Clues begin to emerge as the candidates on the handpicked Lewis/Kelm slate to overtake the Ector County Republican Party are analyzed.
Donna Kelm was allegedly encouraged by Lewis to run for ECRP Chairwoman against the incumbent Tisha Crow. Kelm is currently the president of the Ector County Republican Party Women’s Club. Since Kelm was installed, the club has seen a rapid and marked decline in membership. Many members refused to renew their memberships, which several have held for over a decade, after Kelm began to invite local Democrats to speak at the monthly luncheons. Since Kelm became club president Club membership has dropped from 720 (??) to just 136 (??).
Kelm has also denied interviews from Odessa Headlines following the interview of her opponent Tisha Crow. While her refusal to conduct interviews with any outlet other than the Odessa American has caused some voters concern, her continued absence from recent forums has drawn sharp criticism. Kelm claimed she wasn’t aware of the ECRP candidate forums but two different people on Facebook commented that they had sent Kelm a Facebook invite to the event and Odessa Headlines Publisher Jeff Russell was on hand when Kelm was hand delivered an invite during a meet and greet at Big Daddy’s Catfish. Kelm has also claimed she had a schedule conflict and was unable to attend. However, Odessa Headlines has verified that Kelm’s other meeting with another politician was scheduled for midday and that meeting was canceled. Kelm’s group then planned a conflicting event approximately two weeks after notice was provided of the ECRP forum to arguably provide Kelm an out from meeting with candidates and answering questions.
Kelm’s second no-show occurred last week as Kelm refused to join other candidates in a West Odessa forum hosted by Filiberto Gonzales and Danny Berera. She cited a schedule conflict due to her group scheduling a last minute invite only meet and greet.
Another hand-picked Lewis/Kelm candidate is Jet Brown. A few years back Brown was elected onto the ECRP board and attended three ECRP meetings before disappearing from the office. Later pictures surfaced of Brown having friendly drinks with former Ector County Democratic Party Chairwoman Joanna Keese.
Lewis’ history with Keese is well known and screenshots have shown Lewis reaching out to Keese with a message saying, “Please call me regarding helping a local democrat getting elected to our school board.” The Democrat that Lewis was attempting to help was Donna Smith who was running against ECRP endorsed candidate Wayne Woodall. After a spat between Lewis and Keese, Keese posted the screenshot. Referring to his call for help from the Democrats to defeat a Republican candidate, Lewis stated “I will not apologize for trying to mobilize a few local Democrats to help prevent a candidate from getting elected.”
The Lewis/Kelm ticket has also endorsed candidate Luis Galvan. When serving on the ECISD Board, Galvan was exposed for controversial photos he posted to his personal Facebook page showing him holding a large brick of marijuana. When Galvan was confronted about the photos by the local news media he stated that “Sometimes I do use. If I’m at a party or maybe a concert.” A quick review of Galvan’s social media accounts show him in pictures with Hillary Clinton and comments where he calls Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) a “great role model”.
While these endorsements don’t prove Lewis to be a Democrat, the Lewis/Kelm endorsements do raise concerns about their stated support of the Republican Party.
Lewis’ behavior has also proven problematic. He has regularly lashed out at people who don’t support him or who have posed questions or concerns about his comments or behavior. Several locals have alleged that Lewis is quick to disparage or even block users if they express any opposition or question his integrity and there is ample evidence that is true. Lewis’ sister, Lori Lewis, has also shown a proclivity for name calling and finger pointing. Lori’s reactivity to controversial topics has even resulted in her flat-out making false statements, such as her recent comment about a Larry Robinson endorsement which she later admitted to being wrong about.
Most recently, voters began to receive text messages supporting the Lewis/Kelm candidates from a group called “Engage Odessa”. Odessa Headlines pulled the financial report of this group from the Texas Ethics Commission and discovered a “who’s who” of donors belonging to the group commonly known to local conservatives as “The Business Mafia”. Participation in the election by this group brings a close to the circle and supports the goal stated by Tim Edgmon of flipping a couple of City Council seats in November in an effort to undo everything the current City Council has accomplished.
ENGAGE ODESSA DONORS
Boutin, David $5,000
Brazelton, Dan $500
Deaderick, Frank $5,000
Edgmon, Tim $1,000
Fair, Robert $2,500
Gillham, Richard 3,500
Green, Brian $1,500
Grimes, Taylor $10,000
Keith, Austin $10,000
Martin, Fred $2,500
Odessans For Ethical Leadership $1,000
Terry, Chris $1,000
W.R., Hill $2,500
Wilkins Jr., John $25,000
In the list of donors is Tim Edgmon who attributed his efforts to flipping the Odessa City Council so that all of the work done by the current city council could be undone.
At the end of the day the current primary seems to be more about the upcoming November elections for City Council than any real dissatisfaction with the current Republican leadership except to remove the current ECRP Board which has been very successful in winning elections for conservative candidates.