Pete Sessions and Texas GOP leaders skip Trump Waco kickoff rally
Anna Giaritelli
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A Republican congressman who represents the Central Texas city where former President Donald Trump will rally supporters in his first major 2024 campaign rally on Saturday will skip out on the big hometown event, the Washington Examiner has learned.
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), a former Dallas-area congressman now residing in Waco, Texas, who was endorsed by Trump in 2018, is one of many Republicans who will pass on the event at Waco Regional Airport on Saturday evening.
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“He is not going to be there,” a Sessions aide in his Waco office told the Washington Examiner in a phone call Friday.
Sessions has yet to endorse any 2024 Republican hopefuls, and Trump’s forthcoming campaign rally could prove problematic for Republicans who are concerned about being affiliated with an event that falls at the 30-year anniversary of the federal government’s fiery face-off with an anti-government cult in the city. Trump is also facing the prospect of possibly becoming the only former president to be indicted based on a Manhattan criminal case involving hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.
A Business Insider report stated that no Republican politician from the state planned to join Trump, including staunch conservative Reps. Troy Nehls (R-TX), Michael McCaul (R-TX), and Chip Roy (R-TX).
Nehls is a former sheriff from an area south of Houston who has endorsed Trump for president in 2024. His aides told Insider that he will be in Washington for a previously scheduled commitment.
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Roy is steering clear of Waco after endorsing Trump foe Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) last week.
Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi will not be present, nor will Waco Mayor Dillon Meek, who will be at a banquet for the 10th Court of Appeals as Trump takes the stage.