By Dennis Spellman, Publisher, Covering Katy News
FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas — Tamara McFarlane has won the Republican primary for Fort Bend County Clerk. In her victory statement, she declared the Fort Bend County Republican Party Marxist and vowed to make it "purer." Fort Bend County Republicans — and all residents of this diverse, peaceful county — should pay close attention to those words.
"Today we declare we will rebuild the FBCGOP even stronger, purer, and more faithful to the principles that make America exceptional," McFarlane wrote. She also called for rejecting what she described as "Marxist CCP ideology of DEI and division" within the party.
It is striking rhetoric from a woman with no Republican primary voting history before last week — when her name was on the ballot.
The World Where She Came of Age
The language of purging and purification carries a dark historical legacy, especially in the part of the world where McFarlane grew up. In the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a one-party authoritarian state, Tito's communist regime conducted systematic purges — most brutally after a 1948 split with Stalin, when tens of thousands of suspected Soviet loyalists were sent to the Goli Otok island labor camp, where prisoners were forced to beat and brutalize each other in forced "re-education" rituals designed to break them completely. That tradition has deep roots: Josef Stalin's Great Purge of 1936-38 alone executed roughly 750,000 people and sent millions more to gulags to die, and historians estimate his reign of terror claimed between 6 million and 20 million lives in total.
So when McFarlane stands before the Fort Bend County Republican Party and vows to make it "purer," we all need to pay attention, especially the party's leadership. The word "purer" has a different meaning where McFarlane was raised. In the world where she came of age, "purer" was not a reform slogan. It was the language of purges, show trials, and mass graves. We deserve to know exactly what she intends for people who don't share her worldview.
McFarlane Wants a Fort Bend County We Do Not Know
Fort Bend County is one of the most diverse counties in the United States. It is peaceful, safe and its residents — of every background, every nationality, every faith — generally get along. That did not happen by accident. Republicans have long led this county, and it was under Republican leadership that the policies and values took root that made Fort Bend County the extraordinary community it is today. That, apparently, is a problem for Tamara McFarlane, who is now calling those same leaders Marxists. It is ludicrous and, at its core, it is evil.
A Campaign Built on Fear
Her campaign was not built on ideas or qualifications. It was built on fear. She spent months telling voters that JJ Clemence — a woman who dedicated years of her life to serving two United States congressmen — was a national security threat. She circulated photographs of Clemence doing her job on behalf of the United States government and called it evidence of espionage. Some of those photographs were digitally altered. She amplified the claims of a man she identified as a "CCP hunter" and alleged that a member of the county judge's office was a high-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party. The man is Hispanic and a lifelong Texan. She also spent weeks claiming that a brief cultural visit from representatives from China violated the law. It did not. Neither McFarlane nor the man she identified as a CCP hunter ever produced a shred of evidence to support any of her claims. When media asked for proof, she accused them of being fake news. When Covering Katy News pressed her for evidence, she told us to find it ourselves — essentially demanding that we prove a negative, then criticizing us for failing to validate claims she herself could never substantiate. No evidence. Just fear.
And if frightening people about their neighbors was not enough, she told voters that the title to their homes could be stolen without warning, stoking anxiety among homeowners who had no idea the current clerk's office already offers a notification system — one that alerts homeowners the moment any title change is attempted. Homeowners simply have to sign up. McFarlane knew that, or should have. Keep everyone scared. It is a playbook as old as the despots whose language she speaks.
The Irony Is Difficult to Ignore
McFarlane has not been in Fort Bend County for very long, having registered to vote here just a few years ago in 2019. She now stands before the Fort Bend County Republican Party — a party she spent months frightening — and declares it Marxist and in need of purification. The irony is difficult to ignore.
The word "purer" would not have jumped off the page had we not witnessed McFarlane's primary election tactics firsthand. Now, in victory, she is using that word — and it sounds as though she has been studying Stalin's playbook. Stalin and Soviet propagandists used all of those individual concepts repeatedly — strength, purity, and faithfulness to Marxist-Leninist principles were constant themes in Soviet rhetoric. Phrases combining those ideas appeared regularly in party documents, speeches, and Pravda editorials. The closest documented rhetoric includes Stalin's calls for a party that was "monolithic," "steeled," and "ideologically pure," and Lenin's descriptions of needing a party of "professional revolutionaries" of uncompromising dedication.
A Vacation From History
Americans have largely enjoyed a vacation from history. With the exception of Sept. 11, 2001, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the Oklahoma City bombing, we have not experienced on our own soil the kind of horrific attacks, ethnic cleansing and mass persecution that have defined the lives of millions in other parts of the world. Because of that, it is easy to dismiss the idea that a candidate for county clerk in Fort Bend County could hold the same belief system as history's worst despots. It sounds absurd. It sounds like an overreaction.
But the words people use often reveal what is in their soul.
How Despots Are Made
Joseph Stalin did not become the head of the Soviet Union in a single day. He started at the bottom, just as every despot in history once did. He built power slowly, methodically, using fear, division and the language of purification to clear the path ahead of him.
Who Is Tamara McFarlane?
I am not saying Tamara McFarlane is Joseph Stalin. I am saying her words and actions must be seen as red flags. I am saying Fort Bend County — one of the most diverse, peaceful and prosperous places in the United States — deserves leaders whose words reflect that. Between now and November, voters would do well to ask two simple question: Who is Tamara McFarlane, and what are her intentions?
Tamara McFarlane / Facebook
Tamara McFarlane's primary election message.
Who we are: Covering Katy News is independently owned and operated by professional journalists with more than 50 years of combined experience. Unlike many other local media outlets, we do not accept special purpose district funding — such as from MUDs, drainage districts or other taxing entities — nor do we accept funding from any government source, whether municipal, county, state or federal. We are self-sustaining — no outside investors — supported entirely by local advertisers. Our owner and publisher, Dennis Spellman, and his staff live locally, so we understand local issues. Since 2022, Spellman has also served county residents in a communications role for Fort Bend County Pct. 3. Since our founding in 2011, our editorial decisions have been made independently — and that will never change.