Table Of Content
- Lawmakers to Focus on School Safety and Property Tax Relief as 88th Texas Legislature Begins Today
- David Covey forces runoff with Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who led AG Ken Paxton’s impeachment
- Ezekiel Elliott could return to Cowboys after team passes on running back in NFL Draft
- Texans need truth. Help us report it.
- More Texas Tribune content
Recently, Rep. Terry Wilson, one of Phelan’s committee chairs, waffled when asked at a January candidate forum if he’d reelect the speaker. Patricia Kemp, an Orange County Republican Party precinct chairwoman who voted to censure Phelan, acknowledged the speaker has done a lot for the district. But she believes Phelan cares more about power than following the Republican platform.
Lawmakers to Focus on School Safety and Property Tax Relief as 88th Texas Legislature Begins Today
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.
David Covey forces runoff with Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who led AG Ken Paxton’s impeachment
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.
Ezekiel Elliott could return to Cowboys after team passes on running back in NFL Draft
The group comprises five current representatives and seven Republican nominees who beat incumbents in the recent March 5 primary. They claim the last several years under current Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan’s leadership have proven the need for a Republican speaker who represents the voters’ interests. Seliger was removed from leadership positions and relegated to a legislative backbencher as Patrick refused to allow floor votes on some of Seliger’s bills, even though he had enough support to pass them.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick rules the Texas Senate. Now he seeks influence in the House
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.
Even though this year’s percentage of Democratic chairs is smaller, it’s still significant — mostly because the Republican Party of Texas was pressuring Phelan into banning Democratic chairs outright. He crossed that Rubicon and that's his issue going forward with the Texas House." Those three have criticized Phelan for allowing the impeachment against Paxton to take place in the House. If Paxton will break an oath to his wife and God, why would he tell Trump — or you — the truth?
Texans need truth. Help us report it.
The practice, dating to the earliest days of the Texas Legislature, is designed to promote bipartisan cooperation while rewarding legislators with subject matter expertise. The Republican Party of Texas and conservative activists pressed to end the practice in recent years, but Phelan declined, naming Democrats to chair nine House committees last year. Since taking office in 2015, the three-term, 74-year-old lieutenant governor has remade the Senate in his image, allowing his conservative agenda to fly through with little resistance. As for the fact that speakers rarely cast votes, Covey argued that Phelan’s defense rings hollow because he voted to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton last year. Banning Democratic chairs was also one of the Republican Party of Texas’ legislative priorities for the 88th Texas Legislature.
Texas House GOP hardliners issue list of demands for a next speaker
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.
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Hancock, first elected to the Senate in 2013 after serving six years in the House, received a kidney transplant last summer after being diagnosed with a rare genetic kidney disease. Though he opposes raising the age to buy guns from 18 to 21, a demand of some Uvalde families, Phelan pledged to help craft legislation to make schools and children safer. Learn about The Texas Tribune’s policies, including our partnership with The Trust Project to increase transparency in news. BEAUMONT, Texas — If past is prologue, Dade Phelan’s return to the Texas House would be all but guaranteed.
Phelan’s record on border takes center stage in GOP primary - The Texas Tribune
Phelan’s record on border takes center stage in GOP primary.
Posted: Mon, 01 Apr 2024 07:00:00 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.
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.
Join us at Texas’ breakout politics and policy event as we dig into the 2024 elections, state and national politics, the state of democracy, and so much more. Phelan had cruised to victory in previous contests, and no incumbent House speaker has lost a primary since Rayford Price in 1972, but this was the most difficult reelection he has faced. Polling by the University of Houston showed last month that Phelan was the most unpopular Republican leader in Texas. These members are among those in the Texas House asking for Phelan to be replaced regardless of the outcome of his run-off race against his opponent, David Covey. In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Paxton said he is "immensely proud" to have supported Covey in his bid to oust the speaker.
He said Phelan’s adherence to that tradition means Republicans can pass only some conservative legislative priorities each session while ignoring others. Locally, he touted his record delivering funding for district priorities like Lamar University and flood control over his decade in office. Phelan is under fire for using former President Barack Obama’s White House general counsel, Hugh Brady, as the Texas House parliamentarian and for his political impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton. Phelan also failed to help Republican attempts to bring school choice up for a vote, legislation to protect Texans against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and a constitutional amendment that would protect Texas elections from illegal immigrant voters. Patrick’s frustration bubbled over at the end of a special session in December when a chief conservative policy goal — taxpayer-subsidized private school tuition — failed in the House.
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