AUSTIN — Members of the Texas House will vote Tuesday for their new Speaker after a month-long divisive battle among Republicans.
It’s the first vote lawmakers will conduct during the 89th regular legislative session after being sworn in.
After current House Speaker Dade Phelan dropped his bid to keep the gavel in early December, one member of his leadership team, Representative Dustin Burrows of Lubbock entered the race pitting himself against Representative David Cook of Mansfield. Even though Cook won the House GOP Caucus nomination, Burrows decided to run anyway despite caucus rules saying Republicans need to back their nominee. Representative Jeff Leach backs Burrows.
“I’ve known Dustin Burrows for a long time,” said Leach. “I’ve been desk mates with Dustin the past three sessions and Representative Burrows is a rock-solid conservative. He’s actually the conservative choice in this race.”
Incoming freshman Representative Shelley Luther supports Cook.
“When David Cook came out and said that he was for reform, and he wanted to transform the House into something that is a working House then we all got behind him,” Luther said.
The Speaker assigns committee chairmanships and can push for a bill’s passage or kill it. He or she is the third most powerful person at the Capitol behind the Governor and Lt. Governor.
Even though House members, not the public, vote for Speaker, the ongoing fight has turned into a statewide campaign as Attorney General Ken Paxton toured the state, promising that any House Republican who votes for Burrows instead of Cook will face a primary challenge next year.
In an interview with CBS News Texas, Leach was unfazed and criticized Paxton.
“I wish the Attorney General would focus on his actual job of running the Attorney General’s office [rather] than get involved in these House political squabbles,” Leach said. “I’ve heard what the Attorney General has said on his tour of terror, if you will, across the state and he’s talking a lot about himself.”
The Governor and Lt. Governor have also weighed in to support Cook. Luther told CBS News Texas that she didn’t mind hearing from high-profile Republicans outside of the House.
“I know that they’re outside of the House, but it is their party and it’s an embarrassment honestly that Republicans can’t come together and make a decision,” said Luther.
While the battle for Speaker has been bitter, the legislature did get some good news as the session is set to begin: There’s another big budget surplus.
The Texas Comptroller announced the surplus amounts to nearly $24 billion, which isn’t as high as the record $32.7 billion from two years ago.
The separate rainy-day fund will have more than $28 billion by the end of August 2027.
During the next five months, lawmakers will now debate how much of the extra cash to spend on schools, healthcare, and border security and whether to give homeowners and businesses an additional break on their property taxes.
Watch Eye On Politics at 7:30 a.m. Sunday on air and streaming.
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