The Texas Republican Convention kicks off Thursday. How much drama will be on display?

The Texas GOP, all but untouchably dominant for more than 20 years, will gather at week's end in San Antonio with a subplot of discord that is not uncommon when one party need not fear whatever competition the other might throw its way.

The Texas GOP Convention, which formally opens Thursday and closes Saturday, will feature speeches from elected officials who are rock-solid with the party's base. Several elected officials, Republican candidates and a handful of conservative interest groups, including two gun rights organizations, are listed as event sponsors.

Notably missing from the list of high-profile Republicans participating in the gathering of some of the state's most conservative grassroots activist is Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, whose political future is on the line two days after the convention in the May 28 primary runoff election. GOP voters in his Beaumont-anchored district will decide whether to nominate him for another term or go with his challenger, David Covey, a former Orange County GOP chairman.

But Phelan's top two Texas Republican antagonists will be prominently featured at the assembly of nearly 10,000 delegates and alternates, which will make the state GOP convention once again larger than its national counterpart.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the powerful president of the Texas Senate, has repeatedly accused Phelan of allowing the House to become a roadblock for a conservative agenda. Patrick has a speaking slot on the convention's opening day and will host an "ice cream social" for delegates that evening.

And state Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose war with the speaker goes beyond the political to the personal, is also an opening day speaker. Phelan last year set the wheels in motion for the House's impeachment of Paxton on a well-chronicled list of bribery and obstruction of justice charges in which allegations of marital infidelity and improper political cronyism provided the soap operatic backstory.

Both Paxton, who was acquitted in the GOP-controlled Senate, and Patrick actively back Phelan's runoff opponent and have gone after many of the speaker's House allies in the Republican primaries. So did former President Donald Trump, an ally of both Patrick and Paxton.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who is seeking a third term in November against challenger U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, will speak on the final day. And U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz, a conservative firebrand from Florida, is also an invited guest. Gov. Greg Abbott's office did not respond to a question on whether he plans to take part in the convention.

It's not surprising that Phelan, who was first elected to the House in 2014 and has been its presiding officer since 2021, is opting to skip the once-every-two-years assembly of Texas Republicans. In February, as the primary campaign in which the speaker was facing a multicandidate challenge in his own backyard, the Texas Republican Party's executive committee voted to censure him for what it said was "a lack of fidelity" to GOP principles.

Phelan's office counterpunched, noting that the state party's executive committee was the "same organization that rolled out the red carpet for a group of Neo-Nazis and refused to disassociate from antisemitic groups." It was an apparent reference to outgoing Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi's association with a conservative organization that has been linked to self-avowed white supremacist Nick Fuentes.

The latest entrant in the race to replace Rinaldi as the Texas GOP's head — a vote that will happen during the convention's second day — made an oblique reference to Phelan's accusation when he announced his candidacy Friday. Matt Mackowiak, a longtime GOP foot soldier and current chairman of the Travis County GOP, said such "shady associations" and "blatant anti-Semitism" are likely to reflect poorly on Texas Republican candidates in November.

He specifically went after Rinaldi's preferred successor, Colin County GOP Chairman Abraham George, saying he's likely to continue the approach the present party chairman has taken. George is endorsed by Paxton and several conservative Texas House members.

The race for chair is crowded and includes Texas GOP Vice Chair Dana Meyers, Texas House Freedom Caucus executive Mike Garcia, businessman Ben Armenta and former Texas Real Estate Commissioner Weston Martinez.

Texas GOP conventions are not always a made-for-TV lovefest. Two years ago, delegates booed Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, because he was then working with Democratic lawmakers to enact a bipartisan bill that would expand background checks for gun buyers who are under 21.

It's important to note that public disunity does not always spell doom for a political party in Texas. During the Democrats' long reign as the party in charge, its leaders had to corral the rural conservative and liberal urban wings to keep its majority in Austin and in its congressional delegation.

The infighting played out in public beginning as long ago as the 1960s, but the Democrats maintained control of the House and the Texas congressional delegation until the election of 2002.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas GOP convention may feature contentious race for party chair