Nichols filed some of the earliest complaints<\/a> under the city\u2019s 2013 nondiscrimination ordinance<\/a> \u2014 earning him the designation of one of San Antonio\u2019s most influential gay leaders by Out in SA magazine<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the past, his law firm has advertised services to help transgender clients obtain a legal name change and gender marker correction.<\/p>\n More recently, Nichols represented The Texas Conservative Liberty Forum<\/a> \u2014 a GOP group that wants the party to be more inclusive of different races, religions and sexuality \u2014 on a joint lawsuit with LGBTQ+ advocacy groups suing to stop the removal of a rainbow crosswalk<\/a> and installation of a rainbow sidewalk without a public vote.<\/p>\n The 64-member State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) is tasked with holding elected officials accountable to the party\u2019s policy platform, which includes condemning homosexuality and opposing \u201call efforts to validate transgender identity and ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n Sign up for the Bexar County Ballot, our weekly politics and election newsletter. <\/p>\n Delegates from each of Texas\u2019 31 state Senate districts get to elect one man and one woman to the SREC.<\/p>\n Nichols earned 39 votes \u2014 beating out longtime conservative activist and City Hall gadfly Jack M. Finger, who took 17.<\/p>\n Asked about the historic nature of his candidacy, Nichols said Monday that he didn\u2019t think his sexuality factored into delegates\u2019 calculus. <\/p>\n \u201cI think that they selected me because of what I\u2019ve done, not necessarily some factor of who I am,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He\u2019s been a GOP precinct chair for 16 years, and currently serves as the general counsel and parliamentarian for the Republican Party of Bexar County.<\/p>\n At 42-years old, he\u2019s also relatively young compared to the rest of the SREC, if not the youngest.<\/p>\n \u201cFor me this isn\u2019t a story of \u2018a first,’\u201d Nichols told the Report. \u201cI think this is a story about new blood and the new voice coming into a party that I think needs it.\u201d<\/p>\n The \u2018dog whistle\u2019 of family values<\/p>\n Party leadership elections are often among some of the nastiest campaigns<\/a>, and Nichols\u2019 race was no exception.<\/p>\n He\u2019d already been filling the SREC position on a temporary basis since February, after former U.S. Rep. Quico Canseco stepped down to wage an unsuccessful comeback in Texas\u2019 23rd Congressional District. <\/p>\n Leading up to the convention in Houston, however, he faced critics who said his campaign was an affront to the party\u2019s family values.<\/p>\n Longtime conservative activist Patty Gibbons<\/a> and her daughter, GOP precinct chair Emily Garcia, distributed flyers<\/a> highlighting Nichols\u2019 legal work for LGBTQ+ causes and accusing him of operating a gay bathhouse without the appropriate permits \u2014 a business Nichols says he has no financial stake in.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving come from the 1990s, when the Christian Coalition ushered in the change to the platform of family values \u2026 it\u2019s really jarring for us to see an attack on something we built many, many years ago,\u201d Gibbons said of her concerns.<\/p>\n Nichols fought back against the \u201cdog whistle\u201d of family values by posting annotated copies of Garcia\u2019s old criminal records online, indicating she\u2019d lost custody of two of her children and worked as a performer at an all-nude strip club in the late 2000s.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is there\u2019s a whole bunch of different types of families in this world,\u201d said Nichols, who raised his two young siblings after his mother died suddenly of a brain tumor. \u201cThe fact that I\u2019m being chastised by somebody who has a felony conviction for harming her children \u2014 who wants to lecture me on family values \u2014 is a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to the attacks, Nichols also secured a new party rule<\/a> prohibiting people from holding a leadership position in the party within 20 years of serving out their sentence for a felony conviction.<\/p>\n As a result, Garcia, whose conviction occurred 16 years ago, said she will no longer be able to serve as a precinct chair.<\/p>\n A pattern of exclusion<\/p>\n Elsewhere at the convention, Republicans were less forgiving of party faithful operating outside their strict conservative values.<\/p>\n Two years ago, party officials ramped up their fights with moderates<\/a> by making it easier to keep censured officials off the ballot.<\/p>\n This time around, party leaders tried to remove several delegates<\/a> with ties to a Muslim civil rights group, amid an energetic campaign to stop the \u201cIslamification\u201d of Texas. <\/p>\n When they were unsuccessful, the outgoing party chair advised the delegates to leave the country<\/a> \u2014 or join the Democrats\u2019 convention instead.<\/p>\n Though Republicans continue to dominate statewide offices in Texas, they\u2019ve been on the verge of extinction<\/a> in blue Bexar County. <\/p>\n Bexar County Republican Party Chair Kris Coons appointed Nichols as her parliamentarian, and said Monday that he\u2019s a rising star with a bright future in the party.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is this talented man who has taken care of his sisters, he takes care of his grandmother, he put himself through law school, runs a successful law firm \u2014 and he happens to be gay,\u201d Koons said. \u201cI\u2019m not pushing away any conservative Republicans ever, and that\u2019s what he is. He\u2019s a really good guy.\u201d<\/p>\n Electoral challenges have not stopped conservatives from trying to push San Antonio\u2019s few remaining Republicans to the right, which was on full display in last month\u2019s primary runoffs<\/a>.<\/p>\n This year none of Bexar County\u2019s elected Republicans were given major speaking slots at the state party convention \u2014 and very few attended the event at all.<\/p>\n The county also lost representation on the SREC, Coons said. Four state Senate districts represent Bexar County with two representatives each. Only three of those eight seats are filled with members who live here.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re the fourth largest county in the state, and we have no representation in the state party,\u201d Coons said. \u201cIt\u2019s infuriating.\u201d<\/p>\n One exception was former MLB player Mark Teixeira<\/a>, the party\u2019s nominee to replace U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-San Antonio)<\/a>, who had a booth at the event.<\/p>\n Democrats will host their own convention in Corpus Christi next week.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IMG_1388.jpeg\")
Justin Nichols, left, and Marian Stanko, right, were chosen to represent Texas\u2019 26th state Senate District on the SREC. Credit: Courtesy<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1000040440.jpg\")
Precinct chair Emily Garcia, left, and longtime conservative activist Patty Gibbons, right, are shown at the GOP convention in Houston. Credit: Courtesy of Patty Gibbons<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Brenda-Bazan-GOP-convention-23.jpg\")
Attendees are shown at the Republican Party of Texas\u2019 2024 convention, held at San Antonio\u2019s Henry B. Gonz\u00e1lez Convention Center. Credit: Brenda Baz\u00e1n \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n