DALLAS. Delegates at the Young Republicans of Texas Annual Convention on October 17, 2026 adopted a Statement of Principles and 11 resolutions. Their proposals included paid parental leave, employment verification across Texas employers, and rules requiring data centers to bear their infrastructure costs rather than pass them to households.
The business session and evening celebration brought members and speakers together in Dallas, with Steve Bannon headlining both. The convention overview records the speakers and sponsors; the adopted documents show the work delegates asked Texas leaders to take up.
A statement of purpose
The Statement of Principles grounds YRT’s political work in Christian morality, Texan heritage, and responsibility to the next generation. Its closing sentence calls for a society in which “Texans work to leave a better society for their posterity than that which they inherited.” The resolutions give that purpose specific policy demands.
Make family formation possible
The family-formation resolution calls for job-protected paid parental leave of at least 8 weeks for mothers recovering from childbirth and at least 4 weeks for fathers and adoptive parents. It also calls for eliminating marriage penalties in Texas benefit programs, studying a pro-marriage baby bonus and per-child property-tax relief for married parents, and removing regulatory barriers that raise the price of family-sized homes.
Delegates connected family policy to work: the resolution asks Texas to expand career and technical education, apprenticeships, and industry credentials so young people can earn a family-supporting wage without a four-year degree. These are YRT’s adopted proposals, not a report that the Legislature has enacted them.
Require lawful employment
The E-Verify resolution asks the 90th Legislature to require employment verification across employers without exemptions by industry, firm size, or form of business. It includes labor obtained through subcontractors and staffing agencies, calls for penalties for failing to verify, and protects employers who verify in good faith from liability for federal-system errors.
It also demands a recorded legislative vote. The resolution asks Republican House and Senate candidates to state their positions and county chairs to make those answers known.
A separate H-1B resolution calls for indefinitely extending the governor’s hiring restriction and expanding it to any entity receiving state funding or financial incentives. The broader immigration resolution reaffirms YRT’s earlier position and adds further proposals; its full text is part of the published record.
Put Texans first in data-center policy
The data-center resolution affirms the importance of superintelligence while calling for protections for ratepayers, water supplies, taxpayers, and neighboring communities. It asks large users to pay the full cost of generation, transmission, and grid upgrades needed to serve them, bring or contract for new dispatchable generation, and yield to homes and critical services in an emergency.
The water proposals include reporting consumption, accounting for data-center demand in the State Water Plan, and requiring closed-loop cooling. Delegates also called for stronger job and wage requirements for tax benefits and local setback and noise standards. The resolution supports temporary audits rather than a permanent ban.
From positions to local work
In his convention remarks, Bannon put the task plainly: “Today, you’re not just going to talk about issues. You’re going to talk about solutions.” Texas GOP Chair D’rinda Randall emphasized county organization and turnout: “Enthusiasm doesn’t vote, but we do.” Her remarks called on members to get people to the polls and build strong county organizations.
The adopted agenda also includes judicial and prosecutorial accountability and Defend the Guard legislation, which would bar foreign combat deployment of the Texas National Guard without a congressional declaration of war. The resolution index and original final committee report preserve the complete adopted texts.
Chapters carried the work
Plano Young Republicans thanked its members who served as delegates in its October 19 convention post. Comal County Young Republicans acknowledged receiving YRT Club of the Year in its October 20 report and thanked the members, patrons, and donors who helped build the chapter.
The next place to take part is local. Find your chapter and get involved. Voting membership is for ages 18–40, inclusive. Older adults are welcome too.