Cy-Fair ISD Trustee Could Lose GOP Endorsement

A resolution to rescind the Harris County Republican Party’s endorsement of Cypress-Fairbanks ISD trustee Natalie Blasingame is expected to circulate Friday among precinct chairs and will be up for a vote at an executive committee meeting Monday night.

The meeting is set for 7 p.m. September 15 at the Hyatt Regency in Baytown. Harris County Republicans said Wednesday they did not believe the meeting was open to the public. It’s advertised on the party website but no supporting documents, such as an agenda or the resolution on which they’ll vote, are attached.

The GOP endorsements of Cy-Fair candidates Blasingame, Radele Walker, and George Edwards Jr. were announced in late August, three days before the Houston Press broke the story that Blasingame admitted she’d secretly recorded conversations with community members.

Both residents Blasingame recorded — Bethany Scanlon and Jeff Ivey — were GOP precinct chairs and have since resigned their positions amid the controversy.

Blasingame’s action, which she says was to protect herself from people who have made false accusations or lied about her, was not illegal, but school board watchdogs and other trustees have raised a question of ethics and said that trust is broken in the community.

After Blasingame met with the community members in April, her close friend Damon “Bam” Lenahan threatened to release the audio unless a Facebook post was removed that he believed was disparaging to Blasingame. The post came down, and the recording has not been released.

Blasingame did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. The Cy-Fair ISD election is November 4.

The board adopted a policy earlier this week that prohibits trustees from recording each other, administration officials, or members of the public without the consent of all parties involved.

A Harris County Republican Party Facebook post last month announcing the endorsements netted almost 100 comments, many of whom say they’re supporting one of Blasingame’s opponents, Scott Henry, also a Republican.

One user wrote, “Longtime Republican voter here that will vote against these candidates.”

Ivey responded, “This just shows you are an independent thinker and not a follower like a lamb going to slaughter.” Responding to another comment, Ivey wrote, “Blindly following a flawed process will be the ultimate end to the party. You must stand against these extremist ideologies.”

Blasingame is a devout Christian who has taken some heat in recent years for what some consider to be extremist values and efforts to censor curriculum and ban books. She made two failed bids for school board before being elected to a four-year term in 2021. At the time, she ran on a conservative slate alongside Scott Henry, who is now the board president, and Lucas Scanlon, the spouse of Bethany Scanlon. All three were elected and had the backing of Republican megadonors Bill Ely and Dr. Steven Hotze.

Ely did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

This time around, instead of running for the seat she already holds, Blasingame challenged Henry for his post, telling the Press that the current board has done some good work but new perspectives are needed to move the district forward. The school board positions are at-large, meaning trustees represent the district as a whole rather than the region where they live. The positions are unpaid and nonpartisan.

Charlotte Lampe was a precinct chair for decades and now serves the Cypress community as an election judge. She said the GOP endorsements are controlled by a handful of people who changed the bylaws so they can back a candidate before the filing period closes.

“The endorsements should come from the entire body, but they’re not,” she said. “It’s really disingenuous for HCRP to say, we’ve looked at everybody, because they don’t. There’s a lot going on that I’m concerned about. I am mortified that Natalie Blasingame has not disavowed what [Lenahan is] doing. He’s threatening people.”

By endorsing Blasingame, the Republican Party is also endorsing bad behavior, Lampe added. She hadn’t seen a copy of the resolution and did not know whether the party would consider revoking the endorsements of political newcomer and retired CFISD educator Radele Walker or former board member George Edwards Jr.

It’s also unknown whether the party would endorse another candidate instead of Blasingame. Henry was previously endorsed by the Harris County GOP but those close to the process said he fell out of favor because he wasn’t conservative enough and did not support having school chaplains, a measure that ultimately failed.

“The HCRP endorsement is not worth the paper it’s written on,” Lampe said. “What you’re seeing now is real manipulation and real coercion and things that I will never support. If people are going to talk about, let’s keep Democrats honest, well, let’s keep Republicans honest too.”

“This is out of line,” she said. “I’m a Republican but I’m never going to not call out people that I think are doing a very bad thing. I hope HCRP does the right thing and pulls the endorsements from the whole slate, to tell you the truth. It’s not being done the way it should be done, where everyone is judged on what they can bring to our community.”