“Harris County GOP officials are increasingly convinced that chairman-elect Keith Nielsen plans to take office next month despite saying he would step aside weeks ago after sharing a racist image on social media” reported the Texas Tribune on July 13th.
“Nielsen announced in early June that he would not take office after he was criticized for making a Facebook post displaying a Martin Luther King Jr. quote next to a banana. The juxtaposition of the quote and the banana can be read as an allusion to equating Black people with monkeys, a well-worn racist trope. Based on that announcement, the party made plans to hold an Aug. 8 election to pick a new chair, and candidates started lining up.”
In update posted Thursday on Twitter, Texas Tribune Chief Political Correspondent said “Patrick Svitek Nielsen has notified precinct chairs of an Aug. 18 organizational meeting, via an email he signed as ‘chairman-elect.’ He is set to take office Monday.”