“It’s a message to [Perry and Dewhurst] from the party that they need to move on,” Joe Barnett, a precinct chairman from Arlington, told BuzzFeed at the Texas Republican Party Convention at the Fort Worth Convention Center.

“People are tired of them. Republicans are tired of them,” said Barnett, a member of the state board of the Texas Republican Assembly — which bills itself as “the Republican wing of the Republican Party.”…

Perry and his aides, however, reject this narrative, and their fight for Dewhurst is also a battle to maintain the delicate balance between anti-government conservatism and the dexterous political use of government that was a running issue during Perry’s failed presidential campaign. Perry, the nation’s longest-serving governor, is taking yet another political risk just two years before he is to face reelection — and the outcome of which could determine the success of his political rehabilitation after his unsuccessful presidential run…

Republican consultant Matt Mackowiak, a Cruz supporter, said that while Perry’s support for Dewhurst is unpopular, it likely won’t have a lasting effect should he chose to run again.