State Rep. Brooks Landgraf on Friday fired back following a news release by members of the GOP executive board condemning him for not attending a Thursday meeting of the board to “explain himself.”
Landgraf was in Andrews, an area he still represents, during the meeting but said the executive committee of the ECRP is made up “predominantly of individuals who are actively supporting my opponent and/or have been working for years to get me out of office by any means possible. They don’t like me because they can’t control me.”
News of the Thursday meeting led Landgraf supporters to gather at Republican headquarters on Jefferson Street to greet the executive board as they gathered to discuss allegations that Landgraf was involved in an extramarital affair.
A handful of people held Landgraf campaign signs next to anti-Landgraf signs that said things like “Pay for Play.”
After the meeting Ector County GOP Chairwoman Tisha Crow released a statement stating the executive board remains “disturbed and frustrated” Landgraf has been unwilling to meet with them to discuss allegations about sexual improprieties.
She also said “every precinct chair in attendance was in favor of issuing a statement and the vote on the statement was approved by a super majority.”
Questions about how many people were part of the meeting and the names of those attending were not answered by press time. The GOP website for Ector County is out of date and does not include an updated list of the executive board or precinct chairs.
Prior to the meeting, Crow said they’d invited Landgraf to meet with them last week and when he failed to show up, they invited him to Thursday night’s. Depending upon his response, Crow said they’d discussed everything from taking no action against him to demanding his resignation. Members of the committee on Friday also passed around a letter from State Rep. Kyle Biedermann calling for an investigation into the matter. Also, Crow said “every precinct chair in attendance was in favor of issuing a statement.”
During a forum sponsored by the Ector County Republican Party Feb. 15, Landgraf said the truth “would prevail” and he would not be baited by his opponent, Casey Gray’s claims of affairs.
In an email Friday, Landgraf reiterated that stance.
“I stated plainly that I will not engage in mudslinging or the vile lies and political attacks that have been launched against me and my family. It was unfortunate that the party chairwoman and many executive committee members did not attend the public forum,” Landgraf said.
As for Thursday’s meeting, Landgraf said he wasn’t informed of what was on the executive board’s agenda, but regardless, he’d already committed to be in Andrews for a city council meeting. Landgraf still represents Andrews until January 2023 when redistricting will put that area under another state representative.
“As it turns out, they evidently just wanted to use the secretive meeting to perpetuate the smear campaigns. This is not a surprise because the executive committee of the ECRP is made up predominantly of individuals who are actively supporting my opponent and/or have been working for years to get me out of office by any means possible. They don’t like me because they can’t control me,” Landgraf said.
Landgraf went on to write, he takes pride in “serving people, not the political elites.”
“No executive committee member is more important to me than any other constituent,” Landgraf wrote. “It doesn’t matter where you stand in the political power structure: my job is to represent the people, not just a small group of local political insiders.”
Landgraf said he is a proud Republican and has a record as an effective conservative state representative.
Early voting ended Friday. The primary election is Tuesday and the winner of the GOP primary does not face a Democrat in November.
