Texas GOP threatens House members who support Dustin Burrows in speaker race with attack mailers

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Leaders of the Republican Party of Texas are upping the pressure on Republican lawmakers who are backing Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, in the contentious race for House speaker.

This week, multiple Republicans received text messages from Republican Party Chair Abraham George, calling for them to “unite” behind Burrows’ opponent, Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield.

“Before the Republican Party of Texas sends any direct mail into your district I wanted an opportunity to personally connect about your public position on the speakers race,” George wrote, according to a screenshot of a text message shared with The Texas Tribune.

The text messages come amid an intra-party fight over the speakership that has only intensified since earlier this month, when Cook won the endorsement of the House GOP Caucus and then Burrows announced that he had enough bipartisan support in the 150-member chamber to win. The day of the caucus vote, the Texas GOP indicated it would censure any Republican lawmaker who does not vote for Cook as speaker — a move that, under new party rules, would bar those lawmakers from appearing in a GOP primary for two years.

Republican county leaders in Harris and Fort Bend have since vowed to censure their lawmakers if they vote for Burrows, and the vice chair of the Montgomery County GOP has announced that he will run against Rep. Will Metcalf in 2026 for his support for Burrows. The Texas GOP has also begun to air attack ads against Burrows in his hometown of Lubbock.

The party has traditionally focused on fundraising, voter outreach and other efforts supporting its members. But in recent years — and amid an ongoing war for control of the party — leaders have taken a more activist approach, endorsing candidates and railing against lawmakers they deem “Republicans in Name Only.”

The Texas GOP declined an interview request on the recent text messages from George, who was elected party chair amid heated infighting earlier this year.

George commented on the strategy this week, however. “We want to spend our resources attacking Democrats,” he wrote on social media. “I’m hopeful that the small band of Republicans currently standing in our war way [sic] will seek unity over increased conflict.”

The move has been decried by some party members, however — including at least one pro-Cook House member.

“I’m solidly behind Cook & am confident he will prevail,” Rep. Matt Shaheen wrote on social media this week. “But the [party] must stop its constant attack on Republicans!”