'Republican civil war': Details surface of GOP lawmaker's massive retaliation campaign

The Texas Republican Party is in the middle of a purge of its own membership, at the direction of Gov. Greg Abbott — and out-of-state donors, according to a new report.

The Texas Republican governor, after a group of state legislators defied him over private school voucher funding, is mounting a campaign of retaliation that sets a new political precedent, Politico reported Wednesday.

"[Abbot] helped knock off seven incumbents in the Republican primary in March and is targeting a handful more contests at the end of the month by handpicking conservative challengers and collecting millions of dollars from donors in Texas and beyond," the report states.

"Another two anti-voucher incumbents lost even though they weren’t specifically blacklisted by Abbott."

Politico reports this turmoil is taking place as "enormous amount of money" pours into Texas Republican primaries from "national pro-school-choice groups."

"Abbott’s targeting of former allies has escalated a Republican civil war that is defining Texas politics today, all in pursuit of enacting a voucher law that stands to remake K-12 education in the nation’s second biggest state," the report states.

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All of this is going on at the same time that scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton is separately targeting lawmakers who voted for his impeachment — including House Speaker Dade Phelan, who has been forced into a runoff to keep his job.

A number of familiar names have contributed to the effort to bump off disloyal GOP lawmakers, noted the report:

"Backed by deep-pocketed conservative figures like former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and Republican megadonor Jeff Yass, the school-choice movement has leveraged Republican majorities in state legislatures across the country to pass laws that provide families with lump sums to spend on private school tuition. The efforts, according to supporters, are meant to bolster parental rights by giving families the financial freedom to choose a different option for schooling their children."

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In reality, voucher programs similar to the one proposed in Texas, which have their historical roots in attempts to maintain racial segregation, have broadly failed to improve student outcomes in other states, while worsening inequality and funding issues across the education system.