HOUSTON — The head of the Republican Party in Harris County has resigned after less than four months on the job, according to the Texas Tribune.
Keith Nielsen was engulfed in controversy before he even became chairman. He won the job in March, but as he prepared to take office this summer, he faced widespread condemnation for posting a Facebook graphic juxtaposing a Martin Luther King Jr. quote with a banana, which could be read as an allusion to equating Black people with monkeys, a well-worn racist trope.
Several prominent GOP leaders pressured him to step aside in March, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady.
Nielsen initially said he wouldn't quit, then agreed to forfeit the job but reneged, taking office in early August.
"A bigot whose word is no good," Brady tweeted back then. "This is not what the party of Lincoln stands for. He needs to be removed. Now."
It's not clear if Nielsen's resignation is related to the banana controversy.
It is effective immediately, according to Rolando Garcia, a member of the party's advisory board. The county party's executive committee will pick Nielsen's successor.
Once a battleground, Harris County has become increasingly blue in recent elections. President-elect Joe Biden carried it by 13 percentage points in the Nov. 3 election, a slightly larger margin than Hillary Clinton did four years earlier.
This story is from our news partners at The Texas Tribune.
