HOUSTON – The message was clear and concise from Harris County Republicans, “We live in Houston, we don’t want Houston to have a similar situation,” said Cindy Siegel, Chairman of the Republican Party of Harris County.
The sentiments comes one day after the murder of Republican activist Charlie Kirk at his political rally in Orem, Utah.
“It’s a crazy time we live in and if something like that could happen on our college campuses, I mean it’s something that we take very seriously,” said Siegel.
Political leadership and law enforcement are doing just this as Houston is set to host the State GOP convention in 2026 as well as the National Republican Convention in 2028.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire told 2 investigates in a call Thursday afternoon, “We don’t discuss security measures, but it is our top priority,” said Whitmire.
The mayor also went on to add, “We are aware of national events and international events and monitor them.”
State Senator Paul Bettencourt confirmed politicians are more aware as there has been “building concern over social media driven political violence for several months,” said Bettencourt in a call.
Still with a greater focus on security, there are still vulnerabilities that can get exposed as we have seen not only in Utah but also in Butler, Pennsylvania with President Donald Trump during the 2024 campaign.
Those violent attacks not only impacted those in attendance but also how future events may be attended, “I’ll be quite frank, after President Trump got shot last summer and I knew I was going to be a national delegate there was a part of me that said ‘you know am I putting my life at risk for going to the convention,” said Siegel regarding the concern of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Bottom line for Whitmire? Houston is a city with big events experience ranging from the Super Bowl to the men’s Final Four and when those events happen it always “all hands-on deck”.