Republican activists passed a resolution that rejected the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and referred to President Biden as an illegitimate president. The delegates also called for a repeal of the 1965 Voting Rights Act and, in the party platform, referred to homosexuality as an “abnormal lifestyle choice.”

Conventiongoers also vigorously booed and formally rebuked Sen. John Cornyn, R-Tex., for his role in crafting a bipartisan gun bill passed after the May 24 elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Tex., in which 19 students and two teachers were killed.

“What we’re seeing really is a Republican Party almost completely playing to the base,” said Kirby Goidel, a political science professor at Texas A&M University. “Abbott has gone from a low-key governor to thinking he was going to be challenged in a primary and really moving to cover his flank.”