Texas National Guard ready to respond to post-election riots, governor says

SAN ANTONIO (KTSA News) – Don’t expect to see troops stationed at voting polls on election day, but Gov. Greg Abbott says the Texas National Guard will be “in place” and ready to respond to reports of violence.

“The National Guard will play no role whatsoever in the election process. They will not be at polls or anything like that, and they will not be disruptive in the election process whatsoever,” Abbott said.

He says their goal is to support the Texas Department of Public Safety.

“Our job is to make sure that cities are going to be safe, and along those lines, we want to make sure that in any event there are any protests after the elections are concluded, that we will have adequate personnel in place to make sure that we will be able to address any protests that could turn into riots,” Abbott said.

Mayor Ron Nirenberg said he’s heard from the governor’s office that there are no plans to send troops to San Antonio.

“There’s been no indication that there’s going to be any kind of disorder during or after the election, so I wouldn’t anticipate any, but SAPD and our agencies are always at the ready for any event, any contingency,” said Nirenberg.

The mayor says DPS is active in inter-agency efforts here, but there’s no need to bring Texas National Guard troops here.

“It doesn’t appear that they’re needed and we look forward to having a fair and safe election as we have been doing for the last 2 1/2 weeks,” Nirenberg stated.