Name: Nielsen to take office as Harris County GOP chair, reversing course despite blowback from MLK post
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Nielsen to take office as Harris County GOP chair, reversing course despite blowback from MLK post

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The incoming chairman of the Harris County Republican Party has walked back his decision to decline the post, according to party officials, despite facing continued blowback over a social media post that displayed a Martin Luther King Jr. quote next to a banana.“Reversing a prior announcement, County Chair-elect Keith Nielsen has now confirmed that he plans to take office as scheduled on August 3, so there will not be a County Chair vacancy to be filled,” Chairman Paul Simpson, who Nielsen defeated in March, wrote in an email to party members Friday.Simpson in his email linked to , which first reported the news.Nielsen, who is scheduled to take office Aug. 3, announced on June 6 that he would after posting a photo on Facebook of the MLK quote next to a banana.He previously apologized for the since-deleted post, saying he had no malicious intent. The intent of the photo, which included King’s quote that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” was to speak out against the violence that had occurred during some protests over the death of George Floyd and “say that it’s bananas to act this way,” Nielsen said.He reportedly told local Senate district chairs at a meeting earlier this month that he would take office after all.Prominent Republican officials, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, had called for Nielsen to decline the office and condemned his post, which recalls the racist trope of associating Black people with monkeys. Nielsen at first , before announcing the next day that he would not take office.More Politics News“Dammit, stop it. Stop saying stupid, racist things,” Cruz, who lives in Houston. “Our country is grieving. Let’s come together for equal justice under law. Let’s unite behind Dr. King’s powerful dream, where all of us are judged, not by race, but by the content of our character.”Since then, Nielsen has yet to give the party formal notice of his decision, a required move in order to give up the position, according to party spokeswoman Genevieve Carter. Nielsen also has yet to send any transition materials to Simpson, such as his plans for holding the party’s biannual meeting to adopt bylaws and , Simpson said.Nielsen and a spokeswoman who represented him for a previous story did not respond to requests for comment.Officials who called for Nielsen to step down in June largely have declined to weigh in on his change of mind, though Patrick earlier this month expressed dismay about Nielsen’s reversal, , “Still offensive. Still no excuse. Time for him to go.”Aside from Patrick and Cruz, U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, had called for Nielsen to resign and labeled his post “racist and unacceptable.” U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston, said in June that Nielsen “has no place in our party. Not now. Not ever.”A Crenshaw spokeswoman on Tuesday said the congressman “stands by his original statement,” but declined further comment.Nielsen did resign last month from the Pasadena planning commission. City spokeswoman Laura Mireles said he did so at the request of Mayor Jeff Wagner, while a Nielsen spokeswoman said he already had planned to resign.jasper.scherer@chron.com

The incoming chairman of the Harris County Republican Party has walked back his decision to decline the post, according to party officials, despite facing continued blowback over a social media post that displayed a Martin Luther King Jr. quote next to a banana.“Reversing a prior announcement, County Chair-elect Keith Nielsen has now confirmed that he plans to take office as scheduled on August 3, so there will not be a County Chair vacancy to be filled,” Chairman Paul Simpson, who Nielsen defeated in March, wrote in an email to party members Friday.Simpson in his email linked to , which...

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Nielsen to take office as Harris County GOP chair, reversing course despite blowback from MLK post

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