AUSTIN — Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick threw a vote of confidence behind new House Speaker Dustin Burrows, telling a packed ballroom of conservative activists Thursday that the Lubbock Republican will be an effective champion for the GOP agenda.
“This is our opportunity,” Patrick said at a policy event hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Austin. “We can’t be laggards. We can’t let moderates over at the Texas House … slow us down from doing things that you want to do and I want to do. And I have faith in our new speaker that he’ll turn them around.”
The 2025 Texas Policy Summit at the University of Texas at Austin also featured Gov. Greg Abbott and other political heavyweights, including Burrows on Thursday morning.
The summit has become a tradition of the 30-year-old organization, coinciding with regular legislative sessions and featuring some of the brightest stars and stalwarts of conservative Texas politics.
Many of those gathered at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center for the three-day summit had opposed Burrows’ bid for speaker in January, including several who had accused him of pandering to Democrats.
Patrick, a Houston Republican, had been vocally supportive of Burrows’ opponent, state Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, and objected to Burrows winning the speaker’s race with help from House Democrats.
On Thursday, Patrick reassured those in the conservative trenches that Burrows has given him hope the House will back Republican goals that pass the Senate — after several sessions of the chambers, both dominated by the GOP, warring over policy.
“It shouldn’t be hard in a red state,” Patrick said. “We have a majority in the Senate, a majority in the House. We have all the statewides. It shouldn’t be hard to pass every conservative bill you could possibly dream up. And I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful that this is the session, with a new speaker in place, that that happens.”
Legislative priorities, Patrick said, include school choice; bans on diversity, equity and inclusion programs; stronger border security; bail reform; keeping transgender athletes from participating in girls’ sports; and protecting conservative values in schools.
Burrows has shown support for those types of bills in the past, and on Thursday he told the same gathering the House will pass a school choice bill.
Patrick, who presides over the Senate, said senators will push to slash property taxes, invest in water infrastructure and the power grid, and fund Alzheimer’s research.
“We’re going to pass pretty much every conservative bill you could think of, and it just depends on the House to get it done,” Patrick said.
