Republican infighting flares after Burrows elected speaker

Fallout from Rep. Dustin Burrows’ speaker election has already begun. Minutes after the Lubbock Republican was elected, Republican Party of Texas Chair Abraham George indicated that Burrows supporters could soon be censured by the party — a move that, under new party rules, would bar them from appearing on a primary ballot for two years. The party indicated as much late last year, after Burrows announced that he had enough bipartisan support to win the speakership, though it's likely that any attempt to bar lawmakers from primary ballots would face legal challenges.

The potential censures would add to party acrimony that’s only intensified in the lead up to the speaker election. Earlier this month, Rep. Cody Harris, a Burrows supporter, alleged in an ethics complaint that George had violated bribery rules by threatening to run negative ads in the districts of lawmakers who backed Burrows.

George’s comments came as supporters of Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, vowed to punish those who voted against him during the next primary elections. “This is our House,” they chanted from the Capitol steps.

— Robert Downen

Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, was voted speaker of the Texas House on Tuesday, elevating him to one of the most powerful positions in state government.

Burrows’ win marks a disappointing defeat for the insurgent wing of the party who have been working since the last legislative session to push establishment Republicans out of power. Those insurgent Republicans, who wish to push the chamber further to the right, picked up more than a dozen seats in the most recent election cycle and saw this speaker race as their best chance in years to oust the current House leadership.

But while Burrows’ predecessor, Rep. Dade Phelan of Beaumont, was forced to give up the gavel, the elevation of his close ally signals a similar power structure will likely remain in place.

Burrows won the speaker’s race by a vote of 85-55, edging out Rep. David Cook of Mansfield, with nine members who were present but did not vote.

— James Barragán

Republican state Reps. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock and David Cook of Mansfield will compete head-to-head in an immediate runoff after none of the three nominees for House Speaker received support from 76 members in the first round of voting. Burrows received 71 votes. Cook received 56 votes. Democrat Ana-Maria Rodriguez-Ramos of Richardson received 23 votes.

House lawmakers have completed their nominations for speaker and the candidates are those who were expected: Republican Dustin Burrows of Lubbock, Republican David Cook of Mansfield and Democrat Ana-Maria Rodriguez-Ramos of Richardson.

Under a drawing of straws, Rep. Christina Morales, D-Houston, won the right to nominate fellow Democrat Rodriguez-Ramos first.

Cook’s nomination by Rep. Trent Ashby, R-Lufkin, was second up. He touted Cook’s work as a mayor and said he would preserve local control as well as seek input from other lawmakers if he is elected.

Ashby had been a committee chair under Speaker Dade Phelan but broke from most of Phelan’s old leadership team when he endorsed Cook in early December.

“Over the last few months, I’ve seen firsthand, David believes true leadership is not about concentrating power in a single individual but about empowering others,” Ashby said.

Next, Rep. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, nominated Burrows. He accused billionaires of trying to control the House.

“I understand the urge to ignore the Democrats and push our Republican agenda through without any dissent,” Geren said. “The partisan campaigns were over November the fifth. We're here to work for and with each other, for and with our constituents.”

Geren, one of the remaining Republicans who opposes Gov. Greg Abbott’s push for education savings accounts, listed some of those groups of constituents, including people of both parties, and school kids.

And Geren alluded to those Burrows angered as chair of the powerful Calendars Committee, which dictates if and when bills are heard on the House floor.

“I’ve known Dustin since he got here … He was a little rough and he made some people mad — I was one of them. But I’ve watched him over his time in the Lege become a great leader.”

— Renzo Downey

Renzo Downey is the lead writer of our premier politics newsletter, The Blast, which delivers exclusive reporting, nonpartisan analysis and the first word on political moves across the state. Subscribe today.

In a brief speech to the Texas Senate, Gov. Greg Abbott called for the Legislature to pass a private school voucher program and tighten the state’s bail laws — two of his biggest priorities that he has failed to get across the finish line in past sessions.

Abbott, addressing the chamber shortly after senators took the oath of office, said the bail overhaul was needed to crack down on places like Houston, where there have been a number of high-profile crimes tied to defendants who were released on bond while awaiting trial for a different charge.

“It is going to be up to us in the Senate and the House to make sure we do something about it so we stop criminals from killing other innocent people in our state,” Abbott said.

In recent years, Abbott has pushed for the GOP-controlled Legislature to amend the state Constitution to give judges more discretion to deny bail outright. For now, defendants are largely guaranteed the right to pretrial release except in limited circumstances, like when charged with capital murder. The effort has died repeatedly in the House, failing to secure two-thirds support or hitting end-of-session deadlines.

The governor also renewed his call for the Legislature to enact education savings accounts, a voucher-like policy that would give families direct access to state funds they could use to cover the cost of private school tuition and other education-related expenses.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Senate leader, supports school vouchers and the proposed bail crackdown, both of which have repeatedly passed the upper chamber with scant opposition. Patrick light-heartedly reminded Abbott of this after the governor wrapped his speech.

“We passed that school choice bill five times. We passed that bail bill five times,” Patrick said. “I don't know who my partner is gonna be across the hall, but we passed that bill many times."

— Jasper Scherer

In her statement switching her support for speaker to Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock, Rep.-elect Caroline Fairly said that if Rep. John Smithee, joins her and the rest of the delegation from the Texas Panhandle, having a speaker from Lubbock “will give the Panhandle a level of influence we have never experienced before.”

Both Fairly and Smithee represent parts of Amarillo, which is north of Lubbock. But Smithee, a former speaker candidate himself, said he is still committed to supporting Rep. David Cook of Mansfield.

— Renzo Downey

Renzo Downey is the lead writer of our premier politics newsletter, The Blast, which delivers exclusive reporting, nonpartisan analysis and the first word on political moves across the state. Subscribe today.

With barely an hour to go until the Legislature gavels in, a pair of Republicans switched their support to different speaker candidates in the day’s first sign of moving votes.

Rep. Dustin Burrows, a Lubbock Republican who is backed by most of the chamber’s establishment GOP wing, picked up the support of incoming Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo. Fairly had previously backed Burrows’ rival for the speakership, Rep. David Cook of Mansfield, who is supported by the House’s rightmost faction.

Minutes after Fairly announced she had switched her allegiance, Cook reported that he had gained the support of Rep. Ryan Guillen. The Rio Grande City Republican had previously been in Burrows’ camp.

The vote switches effectively canceled each other out, leaving the candidates’ public vote tallies in the same position. Burrows previously said he had enough votes to secure the gavel, but a handful of lawmakers on his pledge list have said they were not committed to supporting him, leaving him short of the 76-vote majority threshold.

Cook, the House Republican Caucus’ endorsed candidate, remains just shy of 60 public supporters, all but one of them Republicans.

Fairly is the daughter of Amarillo businessman and GOP megadonor Alex Fairly, who announced in December he would spend $20 million to establish a new political group aimed at pushing the Legislature further to the right.

But while Alex Fairly at first suggested his group would support Cook — writing that members “should be strongly opposed to a minority band of Republicans teaming up with Democrats to cut a joint governing agreement” — he has since softened his tone, releasing a statement last week vowing that his group “will not use its funds to ‘primary’ any Member based on their vote in the Speaker election.”

— Jasper Scherer

The next speaker of the Texas House will have to earn 76 votes in order to win the election, according to rules proposed Monday afternoon.

Historically, the rules for the speaker election have only required the winner to get a “majority of the votes cast.” That meant that if some members didn’t vote, someone could be elected speaker based on the number of people who did vote. However, this year’s proposal, House Resolution 1, would explicitly require that the winner get at least 76 votes, equivalent to a majority of all 150 members, regardless of how many members actually vote. Without the new language, members abstaining from the vote could allow someone to win a majority with fewer than 76 votes.

With such a hotly divided Republican caucus, Republicans say that will ensure a majority of members will elect the speaker.

Neither Rep. Dustin Burrows nor Rep. David Cook publicly have the support necessary to win 76 votes. If Republicans remain deadlocked, one side would have to court enough Democrats to hit the threshold.

Additionally, the proposal calls for a runoff between the top two vote-getters if no one hits 76 votes. The proposal also requires members’ votes to be recorded publicly. Both provisions have existed for decades. However, because someone must win at least 76 votes, this year’s measure calls for the head-to-head runoff to continue indefinitely, until someone hits that threshold.

— Renzo Downey

Renzo Downey is the lead writer of our premier politics newsletter, The Blast, which delivers exclusive reporting, nonpartisan analysis and the first word on political moves across the state. Subscribe today.

Democrats aren’t expected to abstain from the speaker vote en masse, but with margins as tight as they are between the leading Republican candidates, it only takes a few Democrats to force a deadlock. Democratic Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos is also running, however, a majority of Democrats are already backing Republican Rep. Dustin Burrows.

Both Republican factions appear to be united in the rule requiring the winner to get at least 76 votes. Republican Reps. Todd Hunter of Corpus Christi and Cody Vasut of Angleton filed HR 1, which lays out the rules for the speaker vote. Hunter has filed the rules for the speaker’s election for years and is backing Burrows. Vasut is supporting Cook.

Top Democrats are also happy with the rules, saying they wanted the 76-vote threshold.

That being said, members could still vote to change the proposed language when the House convenes.

— Renzo Downey

Renzo Downey is the lead writer of our premier politics newsletter, The Blast, which delivers exclusive reporting, nonpartisan analysis and the first word on political moves across the state. Subscribe today.

A fiery Republican civil war culminates Tuesday with the vote to select a new House speaker — a decision that will have a dramatic impact on the direction of this year’s lawmaking and potentially the future of the Legislature.

Rep. David Cook of Mansfield represents the right wing of the party — Republicans who say current House leaders are too willing to compromise with and elevate Democrats. Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock represents the establishment wing of the party. He’s definitely conservative but is emblematic of a group that has worked with Democrats in the past and who believes in protecting the independence of the House against outside forces.

The acrimony between the two factions was stoked during a contentious 2023 legislative session when members were largely divided over whether they supported the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton and Gov. Greg Abbott's priority legislation to create a school voucher-like program, allowing public dollars to be used toward private schools.

Those votes paved the way for a brutal Republican primary with Paxton and Abbott waging war against sitting members over their disloyalty. And in recent months the venomous proxy war has played out ahead of the speaker race, with Paxton’s allies taking aim at Rep. Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican who abandoned seeking another term leading the House amid fierce criticism over Paxton’s impeachment and the failure of vouchers in 2023.

— James Barragán

The debate over a school voucher program is expected to take center stage for much of this year’s regular session. Two years ago, Gov. Greg Abbott and conservative lawmakers failed to create such a program, which would allow parents to use public funds to subsidize private school tuition and other education-related expenses. But Abbott claims that he now has enough support in the Texas House to get voucher legislation passed.

Abbott has said he is committed to hiking public school funding and teacher pay as well, painting it as a false choice to suggest that “you can't have both school choice and robust public schools.” Voucher critics, however, argue that such programs would funnel money away from public schools, further choking a system that is already facing widespread budget shortfalls from inflation and five years without a significant boost in state funding.

— Jasper Scherer

Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar announced Monday that lawmakers will have $194.6 billion in general revenue to fund state operations for the 2026 and 2027 fiscal years. That estimate reflects a 1.1% drop from the amount of funds available during the previous two-year budget period, when lawmakers were flush with a “once-in-a-lifetime” cash balance, Hegar said.

The estimated funds also includes $23.8 billion expected to be leftover from the 2024-25 biennium.

Hegar said lawmakers should make thoughtful financial decisions that focus on improving Texans’ lives.

“Despite positive economic numbers, many of our residents continue to feel the higher cost of groceries, housing and other necessities. And the lingering impacts of persistently rising prices mean many are struggling to ensure a bright future for their children,” Hegar said in a Monday statement accompanying the budget estimate.

— Pooja Salhotra