Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan heads to runoff against Trump-backed GOP primary opponent

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• WFAA would like to send you push notifications about the latest news and weather.
• Money flows into Texas House GOP primary battles this season
• Former Texas House speaker says GOP megadonor Tim Dunn told him only Christians should hold leadership positions
• Pressure mounts on House Speaker Dade Phelan to resign as third special session looms
• Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan heads to runoff against Trump-backed GOP primary opponent
• New on the Tribune

Phelan doesn’t view the race as a yardstick to measure whether he or the attorney general is more influential in the state party. He sees his path to victory as reminding voters why he’s the best candidate to bring this often overlooked region the resources it needs to prosper in the future. The backlash has created an opening for two primary challengers — one of whom, David Covey, is well-funded — and placed Phelan in the most precarious position of his political career.

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Yet his attempt to overthrow the House leadership was being widely watched as an attempt to push an already conservative chamber further to the right. Paxton was acquitted of corruption and abuse of office allegations in a historic Texas Senate trial in 2023. But he blamed Phelan for leading that effort and mounted a political revenge campaign to oust the House leader and others who supported the unsuccessful attempt to drive him from office. Covey said he is well-positioned to represent the district’s economically and socially conservative values, citing his decades of involvement in Republican politics since he attended the party’s state convention as a child. In his view, Phelan is an out-of-touch Austin insider who abandoned his constituents to secure the speaker’s gavel.

Money flows into Texas House GOP primary battles this season

BEAUMONT — If past is prologue, Dade Phelan’s return to the Texas House would be all but guaranteed. Attorney General Ken Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and former President Donald Trump are accusing Phelan of being a “RINO,” even as Phelan has overseen the passage of some of the most conservative bills in recent history. He touted lawmakers’ restrained spending of state dollars and business-friendly policies as reasons for the budget surplus. Importantly, the surplus also stems from an influx of federal funds given to the state to navigate through the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in sales tax revenue that comes from Texans having to spend more because of rising inflation in the country.

Former Texas House speaker says GOP megadonor Tim Dunn told him only Christians should hold leadership positions

(Though many are headed to general elections that they’re likely to win.) The Republican chairman told me he’s certain that the contract’s supporters won’t have a large enough caucus to change the rules next session, but that just stirring a fight over the contract might benefit them politically. “I think they want to lose so they can march, fund-raise, and have something going into another primary cycle to make money off of,” he said. Some voters see Covey’s background as a party chairman as a sign he’s just like Phelan, a glad-handing politician willing to betray their values should they send him to Austin. Instead, they’re backing Alicia Davis, the third candidate in the race who has centered her campaign on eliminating property taxes. Also gone is Amarillo state Sen. Kel Seliger, a business-oriented Republican who had an independent streak and would sometimes tank legislation supported by Patrick.

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Patrick’s legislative goals also became the Senate’s top priority, a situation that was hammered home after Seliger voted against two of Patrick’s priorities, badmouthed fellow Republicans and made a crude comment about a Patrick adviser. Seliger said informal rules also were established, such as one requiring Democrats to gain support from a significant number of Republicans before getting a floor vote. Bill Ratliff, a Republican who served as lieutenant governor for a little over two years after then-Gov. George W. Bush was elected president in 2000, said he got along “famously” with then-Speaker Pete Laney, a Democrat. “It’s about the policy that the people want us to pass that the House continues to kill,” Patrick told WFAA before the March primary. In any case, the Legislature eventually passed SB 4, along with another bill that imposes stiffer penalties for people convicted of smuggling immigrants or operating a stash house.

Defend Texas Liberty PAC is Attorney General Ken Paxton's largest donor by far, and they vocally pressured state senators to acquit him because of his conservative efforts. Before the trial, the group gave Lt. Governor Dan Patrick as presiding judge a $1 million donation and a $2 million loan. Both Paxton and Patrick have now called on Phelan to resign, believing Phelan is taking advantage of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations.

Texas House Speaker Phelan attacks Attorney General Paxton, mistress allegation in video ad - Austin American-Statesman

Texas House Speaker Phelan attacks Attorney General Paxton, mistress allegation in video ad.

Posted: Tue, 06 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

When members cast ballots, the only support for Tinderholt came from the two members who nominated him. All of the members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus appeared to back Phelan; the group has not yet released its roster for this session. Phelan also cited recent reporting by The Texas Tribune about an increase in rural hospitals no longer delivering babies and committed to reversing that trend. He said the record $32.7 billion budget surplus should allow lawmakers to make a “down payment on the future of Texas,” citing additional needs including roads, clean water, flood mitigation and high-speed internet.

Paxton has also sought retribution against several House members who led the effort to remove him from office. And Gov. Greg Abbott has campaigned aggressively against a cadre of Republicans who voted against his coveted private school voucherlike program. Patrick, who served as judge in the impeachment trial before the Senate, kept quiet until senators voted largely along party lines to acquit Paxton. In front of senators, House impeachment managers and cameras, Patrick criticized the process as flawed, rushed and unfair to Paxton. Patrick also called for an audit on House spending and said laws should be changed to prevent hasty impeachments.

House Speaker Dade Phelan heading to runoff with Trump-backed challenger - The Dallas Morning News

House Speaker Dade Phelan heading to runoff with Trump-backed challenger.

Posted: Wed, 06 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

He replaced one-term speaker Dennis Bonnen, who retired after becoming embroiled in a secret recording scandal in 2019 in which he bashed members of his own party. Texas House of Representatives members on Tuesday voted to elect state Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, to a second term as speaker — the most powerful position in the lower chamber. The May 28 runoff promises to be a high-profile slugfest in this elbow of Texas that borders Louisiana.

Speaker Phelan and almost sixty members of the House Republican caucus called for lawmakers to disavow the group and return the millions they've donated. The House insurgents are supported and politically financed by Defend Texas Liberty PAC, led by one of the former anti-Speaker insurgents, Jonathan Stickland. Bius told me he hopes the contract will ensure that the next Speaker can’t, like Phelan and Speakers before him, “build an empire.” As for the prospect that the Contract With Texas could make the House less effective at passing commonsense legislation, Bius seemed to harbor no concerns. Mark Davis, a conservative talk radio host, said the deep rift between Phelan and Patrick was the natural result of the House’s role as a backstop against some of the conservative legislation that has sailed through the Senate. Phelan said he knew nothing, Patrick recalled, characterizing the speaker as untruthful or unaware of what his House leaders were doing. The Patrick-Phelan relationship took a further turn after the House voted overwhelmingly, with Phelan’s support, to impeach Paxton in May.

He accused Phelan of cowing to Democrats’ interests on issues like punishing voter fraud and bail reform. Phelan was first elected in 2014, when he trounced his Democratic opponent by 48 points. His family is among the most distinguished in Beaumont and its prominence, like the city’s, traces back to the oil field.

In 2019, Speaker Phelan was named by Texas Monthly as one of the Best Legislators of the 86th legislative session. He has earned numerous additional accolades in recognition of his legislative service, including Capitol Inside's "Most Valuable Sophomore Member" in 2017 and as one of their "Most Outstanding Freshmen Legislators" in 2015. Phelan is the former president and two-time Governor appointee to the Lower Neches Valley Authority. His board service includes the Texas Lyceum, Southeast Texas CASA, Golden Triangle Coastal Conservation Association, The Jefferson Theater, St. Anne Catholic Church and Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas. In addition to his duties as Speaker, Phelan works as a real estate developer at his family's fourth generation commercial real estate development firm, which owns and manages retail, industrial and office property in Texas and Arkansas.

The race has become a referendum on the influence of the most conservative faction of the party, which aims to make Phelan the first speaker to lose a primary in 52 years. "Dade Phelan has dodged every debate and public forum since the beginning of this race because he cannot defend his embarrassing record on border security,” Covey said in a statement Thursday. Phelan said he would shepherd bills through the chamber that have the support of a majority of members while also ensuring that lawmakers from the minority party would have a meaningful voice. Covey’s campaign has been heavily funded by Defend Texas Liberty, the political group mainly bankrolled by Midland oilman Tim Dunn, a Paxton ally and conservative activist.

The bill required local police to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and allowed police to inquire about the immigration status of people they lawfully detained. Opponents called it a "show-me-your-papers" law that invited racial profiling and would make immigrant groups fearful of police. One such issue that came across his desk was a proposal that sought to bar cities from enacting rules on how businesses schedule their employees’ shifts. The idea had broad support among the business community and Republicans in both chambers after multiple cities had passed regulations requiring employers in their cities to offer paid sick leave.

When the measure reached Phelan’s committee, he inserted the protections back in. The decision created an impasse with Senate leadership, and the bill — which had begun the session seeming certain to pass — eventually died. When Dade Phelan rolled out a list this month of Texas House members backing his bid to become the next speaker, the chamber’s wide and oftentimes complicated ideological spectrum was on full display. Phelan was a prominent lieutenant of current House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, whose handling of the 2019 legislative session was popular before scandal brought him down. We can all agree that our border towns have been bearing the brunt of Washington's failed immigration policies - some going as far as declaring themselves to be in a state of disaster. Every Texas budget I have ever voted for has poured hundreds of millions, now billions, of dollars into the gap between federal policies and the realities on the ground.