Texas Republicans addressed the elephant in the room over the weekend in Houston while in convention.

Platform plank 192, following an amendment from the floor by a supporter of a Texas- and Florida-based consultant being held as a political prisoner, now reads in part:

“… We support restitution and pardons for all of those unjustly targeted and punished by a weaponized Biden administration.”

With this amendment, the Republican Party of Texas platform now includes strong language against “weaponized” DOJ prosecutions and supports pardons and/or restitution in cases like Mike Shirley‘s. Shirley, a former Republican campaign consulting firm owner, is still serving a seven-plus-year sentence following efforts by the Biden Administration to score as many prosecutions as they could to villainize Donald J. Trump and prevent a second term. Shirley said he stood up to Department of Justice prosecutors in 2023, who allegedly offered him a lighter sentence in exchange for furthering misinformation about Russian collusion and election intereference. Shirley’s supporters, maintaining his innocence, have been calling for a presidential pardon for more than a year.

Previously known as “the Tina Peters Resolution,” the platform plank was passed by numerous county and senatorial district conventions across the Lone Star State in March and sent to state convention for further deliberation as the convention process goes. But with former County Clerk Tina Peters now pardoned by Governor of Colorado (as of June 1), many worried the Texas GOP platform-drafting committee would overlook it, presuming the problem to be sufficiently solved. It is a common misconception that all the J6ers and other lawfare victims received pardons by Trump, Shirley’s supporters point out. There remain hundreds, if not thousands, of remaining prisoners and assorted victims of a runaway federal government, incuding these 42 examples. Trump himself has hinted at pardoning 250 such victims as part of America’s semiquincentennial this year. Trump also announced a deal to provide $1.776B in financial restitution to lawfare victims before it encountered significant crticisism and opposition.

Nevertheless, the platform amendment is not only a big win in a major red state for the Free Mike Shirley team but yet another blow against lawfare and weaponized selective prosecution.

The Texas GOP plank now reads as follows:

“192. Political Policing: We believe that laws shoult be enforced uniformly, that punishment should meet the crime, and that the law should never be used to target individuals for political purposes. We oppose the targeting of police officers by progressive district attorneys. We support prompt expunction of records for those who are found guilty in a court of law or for arrests after prosecution is denied. We support restitution and pardons for all of those unjustly targeted and punished by a weaponized Biden administration. …”

Shirley’s supporters are raising funds and support for their efforts to keep his case for clemency known by the administration. Learn more at GiveSendGo.com/FreeMikeShirley.

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Disclaimer: This writer is a former associate of Shirley’s an an active part of the effort to secure clemency for him.