The New Braunfels Young Republicans (NBYR) have a new hashtag on social media, and it’s a message for Comal County’s new Republican Party Chair Mark Montgomery: “#letusin.”
They say Montgomery is ghosting them because their former president and current treasurer, longtime Canyon Lake businessman and party volunteer D.J. Seeger, 30, is openly gay.
NBYR, which formed as a political action committee in 2019, wants its name reinstated on the Comal Republican Party’s website along with those of other local groups, such as the Bulverde/Spring Branch Conservative Republicans, Canyon Lake Republican Women, Mission Hills Open Round Table, New Braunfels Conservatives, Republican Club of Comal County, and Red Stiletto Republican Women.
They want to be included in mass emails, newsletters, and all other communications from the Comal Republican Party. They have used party headquarters as their mailing address for years, and want to know why, suddenly, Frost Bank notified them their mail is no longer “deliverable” to the Landa street address.
Although the Republican Party is no fan of gay marriage and at the state level works to curtail transgender rights, there is no official policy position on gays and lesbians in the party as a whole.
In an online petition on newbraunfelsyr.org, the group said Montgomery is shutting out the voters, activists, and leaders of tomorrow:
“This is about power — and keeping young conservatives out of the room. Chairman Montgomery has personally said that our club wouldn’t be listed because we have a gay member. When challenged, he claimed it was due to a lack of RPT (Republican Party of Texas) affiliation — a standard that isn’t applied to other clubs like the Canyon Lake Republican Women or the Red Stilettos, neither of which are chartered by the Republican Party of Texas. We’re not asking for special treatment. We’re demanding fair and equal treatment.”
NBYR members range in age from 18-40.
“It’s upsetting because everybody claims that they want the youth to get involved and xyz, and when the youth gets involved they are always hit with criticism,” NBYR President Zach Boyer said in an interview.
“You’re too young, wait your turn, you don’t know what you’re talking about, you haven’t been around long enough. It’s all, in my opinion, mumbo jumbo.”
When he asked Montgomery about the reason for NBYR’s exclusion from local party politics, Boyer said the party chair banged the gavel and walked away.
“Mark Montgomery has been approached numerous times by D.J. and I to get on the website.”
Seeger said he supported incumbent party Chair Sue Piner in the 2024 election but introduced himself to Montgomery at the party’s county convention in June 2024.
“I said I didn’t vote for you but look forward to an open dialog and working with you,” Seeger said, describing the conversation as very respectful.
“I said the first thing we need to do is get young Republicans on the website. He said, ‘this is my very first day in office, D.J., ok, not tonight. Let’s have a meeting.'”
That was the last time there was any discussion about the issue, Seeger said, although he subsequently approached Montgomery several times to try and resolve the situation.
When asked for his side of the story, Montgomery emailed MyCanyonLake.com: “Our door is always open for respectful discourse. We look forward to having insightful conversations to find common ground.”
Exactly when or how the former Dallas County GOP chair, who joined the Bulverde Spring Branch Conservative Republicans when he moved to Comal County around seven years ago, made the allegation is unclear.
Seeger said he was told about Montgomery’s opinion on his sexuality by a Republican Party precinct chair. When MyCanyonLake asked that precinct chair to confirm the conversation, they denied it happened and the word “lawyer” was bandied about in a threatening manner.
MyCanyonLake.com reached out to another prominent Republican who also declined to comment on the record.
Seeger maintains other precinct chairs have confirmed his suspicions about Montgomery’s concerns with his sexuality.
In an email to the party’s executive committee and club presidents on Tuesday, Montgomery asked that any inquiries or comments about “ongoing issues” between NBYR and the Republican Party be referred to him or to Anita Valdez, who was named vice chair of the Comal Republican Party on Thursday, the day after NBYR’s first Facebook post about the rift.
Seeger said Valdez approached him earlier to ask whether he planned to run for party chair this year, adding she heard a rumor he was seen holding a Pride flag at an LGBTQ+ event.
“That’s when me and Zach decided to do something. It was time to go to the people that have the power, which was the voters.”
Seeger said Valdez called him Tuesday night. NBYR President Zach Boyer also was on the call, when Valdez asked for a “cease fire.”
“I said this isn’t Israel v. Hamas,” Seeger said. “We’re not hurling missiles at each other, we’re trying to be included…I told her this doesn’t need to be anything more than including the young Republicans in the website, social media, GOP headquarters, and the whole thing goes away. She wants to kick the can down the road.”
In a phone call with MyCanyonLake.com Tuesday, Valdez said she isn’t comfortable revealing details about that conversation and doesn’t want to comment during the “negotiation process.”
However, she described the conversation with the two young Republicans as “healthy.”
“I am very optimistic that this entire issue will come to a perfect satisfactory ending so we can all move forward…I really want to focus on unity because there’s so much talent and I am personally am very excited for the younger generations of Comal specifically that are stepping up and dedicating themselves to grow the party and to work towards keeping Comal red and to have the tools for our community to get engaged as far as our candidates and getting out the vote…I foresee wonderful things in the future and some new partnerships with those young clubs and generations.”
