The Texan Podcast - State Rep. Brent Money at the Texas GOP 2026 State Convention

Episode Date: June 25, 2026

State Rep. Brent Money joined The Texan's Reporter Mary Elise O'Bar at the Republican Party of Texas' 2026 state convention to discuss the convention, sharia law in Texas, legislation to treat abortion as equal to other forms of homicide in the state, and more.Listen to more interviews from The Texan wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, follow us and leave a review.

Representative Britt Money, thank you for joining the Texan news today. I am Mary Elise Ovar. We're here live at the Republican Party, Texas Convention, 26. First, just give us an idea of how you think convention's going, what you've been interested in that's been happening, just a recap. Yeah, I think there's several exciting things. Number one, I do think that we have a lot of party unity here. Obviously, we had a chair fight or not fight, but, you know, a contested race.

But I think for the most part, the delegates here are, focused on what we need to do for the state of Texas. And we're united that Republican governance is going to be better than the alternative. And we're working hard to unify and win in November. So that's been a big theme. I mean, for this convention, Governor Greig Abbott has been speaking about it, that unity is victory. What do you think, what would you like to see Republicans doing right now to really bring about unity, like some concrete actions? Yeah. I think one thing I was excited about that's different than a lot of the other conventions that I've seen is, I mean, our Speaker of the House is here.

Speaker of the House has been a very polarizing figure in Texas politics for almost two decades along multiple different speakerships. And he was the first speaker that I remember to come and actually address the delegates, knowing that he had people that liked him and didn't in the crowd. I think that's unifying, saying, hey, I'm willing to. to come and discuss hard things with you. I think we see more state representatives showing up and being a part of it. And I think the activists, it's going to be finding those legislative priorities that resonate even beyond just the Republican base. And we definitely need to do those things,

but finding those kitchen table issues that everyone is talking about, even when they're not talking about politics. And what would you say those kitchen table issues are that could unite Yeah, I think the economy is one, people, property taxes, people are talking about a lot. I think Sharia, I think people outside of the Republican base are worried about what the Islamification of Texas is doing to Texas. And I think that is something that can connect. And obviously, I'm the chairman of the Sharia Free Texas Caucus. So that's an important issue to me. But I think it's an issue that's important beyond just the delegates that are here.

And so I think those issues as we move into the summer and into the fall when people really started paying attention, those are things they're going to be talking about. Data centers, how are we going to deal with that? That's not a usual political issue. But it's something that's happening that people are talking about in their communities right now. And I think that we have the right policies and need to work on the right messaging to reach our friends and family. Is there any specific legislation that you would like to see happen during the next session that's related to Islam and Texas specifically? Yeah, there's kind of categories of legislation that I've talked about. We're still working on drafting.

Drafting the legislation is when I say we are our caucus has about 50 members in it. And we're, you know, different people have different ideas and we're working together. But I would say there's kind of four categories. One is making sure that our law enforcement and our, and our prosecutors have the tools that they need to go after terrorist networks. I think pretty much everyone would agree that we shouldn't be funding terrorism here and we shouldn't have terrorism funding operations here in Texas. So that's one category.

I think also just largely we need to look at our immigration policy, preparing for a post-Trump presidency. How can we as a state protect our sovereignty and who comes into our borders and not? And then what are the aspects of Sharia law that are incompatible with our Constitution or with our current laws and make sure that they are enforceable? So some things in Sharia are are not incompatible. Like Sharia is you're not, if you're under Sharia, you're not allowed to drink alcohol. Well, people can decide to drink alcohol or not drink alcohol. That's fine.

No problem with that. But if under Sharia law, women are not allowed to have the same rights as men. that's a problem. And that's true. Under Sharia law, they believe in female genital mutilation. Well, that's not allowed in Texas. The problem is a lot of times it happens in private enclaves where people don't know about it, making sure that there are protections for those young girls. Child marriage. The list goes on. And so a lot of those things are already illegal under Texas law. But if we allow these enclaves of people that are not assimilating into our culture, then who is there to raise the concern and bring it to law enforcement? Who are the law enforcement

people that are going to be responding? Are they people who also live under the same law and believe that that's fine? And so I think we really need to work on ensuring that we have the same law for everyone and that it can be equally applied. And last session, you filed a bill that would have allowed criminal penalties for women who have abortions in Texas. I believe it was given a committee hearing and then it was kind of pulled from there. It was never ultimately given a hearing. Do you plan to file a bill like that again when we get to next session? And what do you think the support looks like for that now? Yeah, absolutely, I will file it again. And support is only growing. I would, I would frame it just a little bit differently than what you did, not that what you said was inaccurate. But it's not a bill that

would impose penalties. The penalties are already there. If anyone in Texas kills an unborn baby, it is considered homicide just like if they killed you or me. But there is a specific exception that says this does not apply to the mother of the child. And so it's just a blanket immunity no matter what. And so nothing in my bill talks about punishing. Nothing in my bill talks about, you know, creating a new crime or anything like that. It just says, hey, wait a minute. we're not going to give just a blanket immunity to every mother of every child to kill their child whenever they want.

That is not equal protection in the law, which we believe, I think, as Christians and as Republicans, there should be for those children. And so the same exact defenses would also apply, women that are under duress, women that are being forced to do things against their will, people who don't have the what we in the law called mens rea they don't understand what they're doing it's not like automatic punishment it's just it puts it in the same position as killing anyone else and i think some people have suggested that it would cause retroactive um penalties for women if it was put into place but if i understand correctly your bill wouldn't include that right there's

absolutely no chance of that i i never would do it didn't do it but also it would be blatantly unconstitutional. Constitution absolutely protects against retroactive punishments for new laws. And so absolutely would not ever. You know, there are a lot of women in Texas that have had abortions. Many, many of them regret it and have sought forgiveness from the Lord and they have it. And the state of Texas is never going to punish those women. What we want to do is looking forward, tell women, hey, this is not an option for you.

this and and I've I've heard from more women who say if this had been the law I never would have done it you know thank you for bringing this than I've heard from people on the other side and and you're seeing not just in Texas but across the country the idea of equal protection is becoming much more in the mainstream and and I think the Overton window is moving dramatically in that directions. Are there any more legislators specifically that you've heard from that might be leaning towards more support for this issue than before? Yes, for sure. And I won't, I won't mention names because they have to decide whether they want to talk about it or not. But what I would say is last session on when we had 21, I think, co-authors. After the kerfuffle and

Alliance for Life really came out hard, we ended up with 14 co-authors. I think we'll have more than that this session. I'm fairly confident of it. And even some of the people in the House who have been very vocally against it are starting to understand the issue better. And I think we're going to, I think we're going to move this forward this session for sure. And one more question here. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and of course this was during primary season, but he indicated concern that the Republicans could lose the House. What are your thoughts on that? Where does that stand now do you think? Yeah, I'm not a political prognosticator. Anybody that knows me, knows that I am a wild-eyed optimist always, and I am looking for us to pick up seats in the house. I would say that

if we lost the house in Texas, it would be because of, that are factors way beyond what, what the house could, you know, each house candidate would have to say about it. I think if something happens nationally and the tide just really turns against Republicans in a dramatic way. But, I mean, in order for us to to lose the House, I mean, we would lose the, I think statistically, we would have to lose the governorship before we would lose the House just in the way that things are set up. And I think that's highly unlikely to happen. But Republicans need to get out and work and not just get out and vote, but get people to

vote, talk with their friends and their neighbors and, and work on, you know, just the blocking and tackling of politics, which is just talking to people about things that matter to you. We've become a society that I think relies too much on posting things on social media. And I like social media. I utilize it. I think it's a good way to get the message out. But it's still a relationship business. And we need to be talking to people one-on-one.

All right. Thank you so much, Representative Brent Money. I appreciate you. time. I appreciate it. Thank you. I always love talking to the Texan. Thank you so much.