{"id":245106,"date":"2026-04-11T13:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/245106\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T13:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:28:12","slug":"its-solid-gold-some-texas-republicans-ramp-up-criticisms-of-muslims-to-energize-primary-voters-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/245106\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It\u2019s solid gold\u2019: Some Texas Republicans ramp up criticisms of Muslims to energize primary voters | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

(CNN) \u2014 Running in a contentious race<\/a> to keep his seat, Sen. John Cornyn put out an ad<\/a> vowing to fight \u201cradical Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Cornyn\u2019s opponent in the May 26 runoff, accused<\/a> his rival of helping \u201cradical Islamic Afghans invade Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Chip Roy, running to replace Paxton as attorney general in a runoff next month, has alleged<\/a> without evidence that parts of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, home to thousands of Muslims, have become what some Texas women believe to be \u201cno-go zones\u201d in which they are \u201cincreasingly feeling uncomfortable, as if they are somehow immersed in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n

Certain Republicans in Texas have made anti-Islamic rhetoric part of their primary campaigns, arguing that Muslims have made the state less safe. That\u2019s a notable message in the nation\u2019s largest conservative state and one that\u2019s echoed by a handful of Republicans nationally, including members of Congress.<\/p>\n

Border issues have long animated conservatives \u2013 particularly in Texas, which has the longest section of US-Mexico border of any state \u2013 and were seen as critical<\/a> to President Donald Trump\u2019s 2024 victory.<\/p>\n

Vinny Minchillo, a Republican strategist based in Plano, Texas, said that with illegal immigration hitting lows during Trump\u2019s presidency, it made sense for GOP candidates to drive at another immigration-related concern and that opposition to Sharia law, or Islamic religious law, in particular was a winner in primaries.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is playing as well as anything I have ever seen with Texas Republican voters,\u201d said Minchillo, who worked on the media team for Bush\u2019s 2004 reelection campaign and Mitt Romney\u2019s 2012 bid. \u201cIt\u2019s solid gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muslim leaders living in Texas argue that the ramp-up of rhetoric endangers their communities and spreads misconceptions about Sharia law and about Islam in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese congressmen and these state representatives live in neighborhoods where Muslims live. They shop at stores where Muslims shop,\u201d said Sameena Karmally, an Indian American Muslim who lives in Collin County and previously ran for the state House in 2014.<\/p>\n

Particularly with the outbreak of the war with Iran, Karmally argued, \u201cThey need some kind of demon and we\u2019re going to be it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, Texas, leaned into the issue, featuring a panel called \u201cDon\u2019t Sharia My Texas,\u201d in which one speaker, former Tarrant County GOP chairman Bo French, denounced what he called the \u201cIslamification of Texas and America.\u201d<\/p>\n

And a number<\/a> of national Republicans, meanwhile, have called for the deportation of all Muslims or their exclusion from public life. Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee wrote<\/a>: \u201cMuslims don\u2019t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.\u201d Texas Rep. Brandon Gill said<\/a>, \u201cWe will never stop Sharia law until we stop Muslim immigration.\u201d Rep. Randy Fine of Florida posted<\/a>: \u201cIf they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several candidates in Texas have pointed to a deadly shooting in Austin, the state capital, in which the suspect, a naturalized US citizen<\/a> from Senegal, attacked a nightlife district wearing a hoodie emblazoned with \u201cProperty of Allah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roy noted<\/a> that the gunman in the Austin shooting became a legal permanent resident in 2006, during Republican President George W. Bush\u2019s presidency. He reflected on the past \u201cGOP celebration of the joys of \u2018melting pot\u2019 legal immigration\u201d and added: \u201cThis is why we are losing our country, our immigration system is a joke, and should PAUSE ALL immigration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSharia law is incompatible with the Constitution and cannot supersede Texas or US law, and I will continue to stand unapologetically for the rule of law and in defense of Western Civilization against the Islamists who attack it,\u201d Roy told CNN in a statement.<\/p>\n

The Paxton campaign did not respond to requests for comment, and the Cornyn campaign declined to comment.<\/p>\n

Paxton\u2019s allegation that Cornyn helped \u201cradical Islamic Afghans invade Texas\u201d was an apparent reference to legislation Cornyn co-sponsored in 2021. Cornyn co-sponsored the HOPE for Afghan SIVs Act<\/a>, which accelerated the immigration process for Afghan interpreters and translators who assisted US forces in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

A source familiar with the legislation told CNN that the vetting and number of visas available to Afghans are separate from Cornyn\u2019s Hope for Afghan SIVs Act, which only pertained to the timing of a medical exam for Afghans and has since expired.<\/p>\n

Muslims in Texas: EPIC City and allegations of Sharia law<\/p>\n

Muslims have long been a part of public life in Texas, making up roughly 2% of the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But concerns about Sharia law in the state reignited in recent years with the proposal of an Islamic community development in North Texas, which has faced pushback at the state and federal level after the site was purchased in fall 2024.<\/p>\n

The East Plano Islamic Center, known as EPIC City, is a 402-acre Islamic-focused planned development near the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area that would include 1,000 homes, a mosque, K-12 religious school, senior living center and retail space.<\/p>\n

Texas leaders, including Cornyn and Paxton, have pursued investigations into the community. Cornyn previously called upon the Justice Department to explore allegations of religious discrimination, while Paxton has focused on alleged violations related to state oversight and Texas securities law.<\/p>\n

Dan Cogdell, an attorney for EPIC City who formerly represented Paxton during his impeachment trial, dismissed<\/a> claims of Sharia law in a news conference last April: \u201cNo one associated with EPIC, no one associated with that community, follows Sharia law or is in favor of Sharia law or is implementing Sharia law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Mehmet Salih Sayilgan, an assistant teaching professor at Georgetown University\u2019s Department of Theology and Religious Studies, says he has not seen or heard of any attempt to enact Sharia law anywhere in America.<\/p>\n

Sayilgan says Sharia law, which he defines as a set of rituals Muslims follow, has coexisted with the US Constitution since the time of the Founding Fathers.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the Constitution is also part of Islamic law,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Still, among the 10 non-binding propositions<\/a> on this year\u2019s Republican primary ballot was a question asking voters if they thought \u201cTexas should prohibit Sharia Law.\u201d The proposition yielded overwhelming support for prohibiting Sharia law in Texas, with nearly 95% of primary voters voting \u201cyes,\u201d while 5% said \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the results don\u2019t trigger immediate action, they do indicate to lawmakers how voters feel ahead of the next legislative session in January 2027, where bills to address Sharia law could be on the agenda. In 2017, the Texas Legislature passed a bill that addressed religious legal frameworks \u2013 House Bill 45<\/a> \u2013 that prohibits the Texas Supreme Court from applying foreign laws in certain family law cases.<\/p>\n

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil liberties group formed to challenge anti- Muslim discrimination nationwide, has also drawn the ire of Texas leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who designated<\/a> the group, along with the Muslim Brotherhood, as a foreign terrorist organization and transnational criminal organization last November.<\/p>\n

Shaimaa Zayan, the operations manager for CAIR Austin, accused Republicans of \u201cdehumanizing\u201d Muslims. \u201cThey are using us as a boogeyman to scare people so that they can vote for them. They are using us as a scapegoat to gain political positions and power,\u201d Zayan said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law, says that politicians previously took \u201cpolite steps\u201d of telling Muslims they are not the enemy domestically.<\/p>\n

Trump notably launched his first campaign with a vow to bar all Muslim immigrants and instituted several visa bans on majority Muslim countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe boldness in the thesis of a Christian America has moved,\u201d Abou El Fadl said, adding, \u201cThose who wanted to change the jurisprudence of separation between church and state were still shy about it and still unsure about their ability to do so, and they would, you know, it would come out in indirectly, suggestively. But things have changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democratic state Rep. Salman Bhojani, who is one of two Muslims in the Texas state House, says there has always been Islamophobia but noted it is \u201cmore shameless and scary than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Fort Bend County Constable Ali Sheikhani, a Pakistani American and a Republican, said he is a prime example that Muslim people are welcome in the GOP.<\/p>\n

Sheikhani told CNN he has never experienced any type of retaliation for his faith but rather felt welcomed by the diverse set of individuals who voted for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey never let me feel like, you know, I\u2019m from outside and I\u2019m from Pakistan or anything. They just treat me like one of them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A primary message or a general election message?<\/p>\n

The question of how much anti-Islam messaging will factor into the midterm elections \u2013 both in Texas and nationally \u2013 prompts different responses even among Republican strategists who are immersed in campaigns statewide.<\/p>\n

Minchillo believes the issue will nationalize, particularly as a \u201cdifferentiator\u201d between Democrats and Republicans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s an opportunity to rev up Republicans and get them to come out and vote, you\u2019re going to see this,\u201d Minchillo said.<\/p>\n

Brendan Steinhauser, a Republican strategist based in Austin, Texas, and Washington, DC, thinks the issue won\u2019t last through the midterms. Steinhauser said by talking about Sharia law, campaigns may lose some voters in the middle, especially if they are not touching on pocketbook issues like the economy and jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019ll be quite limited in the general. I don\u2019t expect Republican candidates to talk about it as much in the general,\u201d Steinhauser said. \u201cBecause I think that this issue is a niche issue among kind of hardcore Republicans, conservatives in primaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

The-CNN-Wire<\/p>\n

\u2122 & \u00a9 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(CNN) \u2014 Running in a contentious race to keep his seat, Sen. John Cornyn put out an ad…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245107,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1525,27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-245106","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-social","9":"tag-texas","10":"tag-texas-headlines","11":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245106\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}