SHAFAQNA- An attempt to remove a Texas county GOP leader from his post because he is Muslim failed.
The Tarrant County Republican Party voted on Thursday to keep Dr. Shahid Shafi in his post as vice chairman, according to the Star-Telegram.
In a video posted on the Star-Telegram’s website, Mike Snyder of the Tarrant County Republican Party announced, “the vote total was 139 to support Dr. Shafi and only 49 to reject him.”
Snyder went on to say, “tonight’s vote demonstrates the majority of Republicans in Tarrant County stands with Dr. Shahid Shafi. And on the firm foundation of religious freedom memorialized in the Declaration of Independence”, CNN reported.
After the vote, Shafi said the campaign to oust him had been hard on him and his family, but that he felt no animosity toward his critics.
“As an immigrant to this great country, I am honoured and privileged to receive the support of my fellow Republicans”, he said.
“We were fighting for religious freedom – a founding principle of our nation. And today, we have come out victorious,” he declared.
Tarrant County GOP Chairman, Darl Easton said he appointed Shafi to the position after observing his work on an outreach committee and a campaign committee.
“When it came time to appoint vice chairs, it was kind of an automatic choice,” Easton said.
Easton says that while religion is a vital factor to some members of the party, it is not to him.
“I’m standing by him,” Easton said.
Shafi had won the support of Texas state Republicans including Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen.Ted Cruz and Land Commissioner George P. Bush, USA TODAY told.
In addition to serving as the Republican vice chairman of Tarrant County – the third largest county in Texas – Dr Shafi is a surgeon and Southlake City Councilman who immigrated to the US nearly 30 years ago.
He reportedly is originally from India, and became a US citizen in 2009, BBC reported.
A nation divided by hate and fear makes us weaker, and our enemies stronger,” Shafi wrote. “It is through inclusion, and not exclusion, that we will be able to build strong communities, where neighbors trust and protect each other, and our enemies cannot find refuge.”
Read more from Shafaqna: