State Representative Dustin Burrows of Lubbock announced on Saturday night that he has the votes needed to be the next speaker of the Texas House, which was a startling turn of events.
“The speaker’s race is over,” he declared during a brief, less than two-minute news conference. “I have secured enough to be speaker of the House for the next session.”
Burrows published a list of 76 supporters, including 38 Democrats and 38 Republicans. Three members, however, argue that they shouldn’t be on the list, undermining Burrows’ assertion that he has the votes required to win the speakership.
Minutes after Rep. David Cook of Mansfield, Burrows’ primary opponent for the speaker’s gavel, was proclaimed the House GOP Caucus’ endorsed candidate by a vote of 48-14, a group of Burrows’ supporters abruptly left the meeting after the two candidates had stalemated in the first two rounds.
In order to assist Cook reach the 76-vote barrier at the start of the legislative session in January, all 88 members of the GOP caucus are required by the group’s rules to vote for the supported candidate. However, the fact that Burrows made his declaration in front of other Republican supporters suggested that those lawmakers were prepared to break the law in order to support Burrows.
Cook complimented the 62 members who stayed “committed to the process” and waited until the caucus selected a candidate after the caucus meeting. He also pledged to work with those that walked in order to bring the caucus together.
Cook said, “This is still a race,” to reporters. “Obviously, that was what we were looking for today. In order for the Texas House to proceed, we hoped that the 88 Republicans who make up the Texas House Republican Caucus would unite and reach a consensus that would unite all Texas House Republicans. Therefore, no, it’s not finished.
Later, asked by the Tribune for his plan if Burrows brings out a list of 76 backers, Cook indicated he would continue working with members to win the majority.
Cook released a list of 56 Republican supporters following the release of Burrows’ list. Several names, including Don McLaughlin, Charles Cunningham, Janie Lopez, Mano DeAyala, Jeff Barry, and Paul Dyson, were duplicated across the two lists.
McLaughlin stated that he was still devoted to Cook and did not grant authorization to be on Burrows’ list.
In a statement, McLaughlin declared, “I stand firm with my conservative colleagues — my vote for speaker is with David Cook.” “Any claim that I support Dustin Burrows is pure deception.”
In a statement, Paul Dyson, another recently elected lawmaker on both lists, declared his support for Cook as speaker.
“During the campaign, I pledged to support the caucus nominee, and I applaud David and the other speaker candidates for spending countless hours sharing their vision for a united Republican House caucus,” he stated. “I look forward to working with you, David, to deliver conservative results for Texas.”
At least two additional Republican lawmakers were requesting that their names be taken off of Burrows’ list, according to a GOP politician with knowledge of the situation.
Burrows’ list included Democratic Representative Josey Garcia, who later stated she had not endorsed him.
“At this time,” the San Antonio legislator said in a statement, “I have not endorsed a candidate for speaker of the House.” “Like all of my colleagues, I take great responsibility in electing our next speaker, and I look forward to casting my vote soon.”
Following the GOP caucus meeting, Cook stated that he intended to work with the 26 Republican caucus members who had left in order to get their support and that the race was not yet over. Cook added that he was open to speaking with Democrats in order to gain their support.
The conflicting assertions of triumph suggest that the Republican intraparty battle may drag on until the next legislative session. In a statement released Saturday evening, the Texas GOP urged House Republicans to support Cook and urged other speaker contenders to withdraw from the contest.
Tom Oliverson, the chairman of the House GOP Caucus, who retracted his bid for speaker in order to back Cook, stated that he expected the group’s members to follow its guidelines and cast their votes for Cook. Although he acknowledged that the race was ended, he claimed that Cook had won.
Oliverson stated, “[Burrows] knows how that process works because he helped write that process” while serving as the previous chair of the caucus. “What has happened outside of the caucus meeting is very much whatJoe Strausused to do and that is the reason why the rules were put in place.”
76 of the 150 members of the chamber must vote for the speaker to be elected. However, Burrows’ supporters seem determined to break the caucus’ norms in light of Saturday’s heated sessions. In order to elect their own candidate to the speakership, that group must now rely on forming an alliance with Democrats. GOP activists, who emphasized the incumbent speaker’s bipartisan collaboration with Democrats and forced him to withdraw from the campaign, would fiercely oppose such a move. Supporters of Cook, who identify as “reformers” and hail from the party’s right wing, argue that among other conservative goals, any new speaker candidate must pledge to stop appointing Democratic chairs.
Cook’s supporter, Lewisville Rep.-elect Mitch Little, claimed that a minority of the caucus was making a “brazen attempt to circumvent the will of the voters, and I don’t think the people of Texas are going to be very happy about it.”
“I wouldn’t want to be one of the minority Republicans on Dustin Burrows’ list going home for the holidays to explain what I just did here today,” he stated.
Late Thursday night, Burrows made a last-ditch attempt to win the speaker’s gavel after Phelan, a Republican from Beaumont who supports Burrows, informed legislators he would not be running. Critics have criticized Phelan for failing to do enough to secure the passage of Governor Greg Abbott’s priority school voucher legislation and for supervising the impeachment of conservative idol Attorney General Ken Paxton.
On social media, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who had been calling for Phelan’s removal for more than a year, congratulated Cook on winning the caucus vote.
According to Patrick, “Cook and his supporters did this the right way,” “His vote count continues to climb.”
Prior to the GOP caucus meeting, grassroots activists gathered outside the Capitol room where the discussion was taking place, wearing shirts that read “Parents Matter” and “Ban Dem Chairs,” and waving placards that read “Reform!” “We’re counting on you!” shouted the lawmakers who had pledged to back Cook as they entered the room, and they cheered.
In accordance with caucus regulations, the vote on Saturday was held via secure secret ballot.
Candidates are permitted to have nominating speeches made for them by other members during the endorsement meeting. Cook was represented by Representatives James Frank of Wichita Falls and Matt Shaheen of Plano. Burrows delivered the speech for his own nomination.
In the first two rounds of voting, neither candidate received the two-thirds of the vote needed to receive the endorsement. According to the caucus rules, the threshold decreased to three-fifths in the third round.
Then, before the third round, Burrows’ camp asked for a pause to talk about their plan. They claimed to have been turned away and departed the meeting abruptly, causing chaos in the proceedings. Burrows’ group, according to Cook’s side, departed before the caucus had completed debating whether to halt the action.
Before conducting the third round on Saturday, the caucus took a break till 3:45 p.m. After voting in favor of Cook, the surviving members got together for a jubilant press conference.
Burrows had also made overtures to House Democrats, who had been gathering all day to try to rally support for him. However, the House Democratic Caucus was unable to reach a unanimous decision to support Burrows. Rather, it issued a statement stating that its members could vote for anyone other than Cook as speaker.Gene Wu, the Houston Democrat who this week was elected chair of the caucus, posted on social media that Burrows had not agreed to appoint Democrats as committee chairs.
Burrows continues to face strong opposition from several Democrats.
On Thursday, Rep.Ana-Mar a Rodr guez Ramosa Richardson Democrat who chairs the Texas Legislative Progressive Caucus and is running a long-shot bid for speaker herself blasted Burrowson social mediafor “attacking local control” with his “anti-worker, billionaire-backed” bill last year.
Ramos said it was unfortunate to see Democrats supporting Burrows who had targeted Texas families and communities.”
“Supporting a speaker who is not backed by his own party s majority and and who seeks to appeal to Democrats by defending indefensible policies- policies that have allowed children to be slaughtered in schools, women to die without access to healthcare and public schools to close repeats 25 years of submission to a leadership that has completely failed Texas families,” Ramos told the Texas Tribune.
This article originally appeared inThe Texas Tribuneathttps://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/07/texas-house-speaker-david-cook-dustin-burrows/.
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