East Texas representative supports Dustin Burrows amid heated House speaker race

PALESTINE, Texas — East Texas state Rep. Cody Harris is firmly supporting the candidate he says is the most conservative for the House speaker seat. 

On Dec. 15, Harris, R-Palestine, shared screenshots of texts from Texas Republican Party Chairman Abraham George threatening to send direct mail to voters of House District 8 if Harris didn’t support a certain candidate. 

In a contentious race for House speaker, Harris is supporting Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, over the candidate George is backing, Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield. Many Republicans supporting Burrows received texts similar to those that Harris were sent, according to the Texas Tribune. 

The Tribune reports that Cook won the endorsement of the House GOP Caucus, but Burrows said he had enough bipartisan support in the 150-member chamber to win. 

Harris said that Burrows has a proven track record of the results, and there is no doubt in his mind that Dustin Burrows is the best choice for a speaker.

“When I’m looking for someone who’s going to continue to deliver on the conservative values that East Texans elected me to go and fight for in Austin, Dustin Burrows is unequivocally the right choice,” Harris said. 

Harris said the support for Cook is about power and control, and while he respects Cook, Harris thinks he’s backed by billionaires trying to garner control. 

In a Facebook post, Harris called the texts he received from George “disappointing and baffling.” Harris said George’s preferred House speaker candidate has a moderate record that doesn’t align conservative principles.

Harris said in an interview with CBS19 that George or anyone from the Texas Republican Party organization did not reach out when a Democrat challenged him this past election. 

“This is the very first time that I have heard from the chairman or anyone at RPT, and now is when he chooses to reach out to me with a text message saying basically that he wants to hear my position on the speakers race, and if it doesn’t go the way that he wants it to, then he’s going to send mailers into my district, direct mail into my House district, which is a threat, right?  And I will not cower,” Harris said. “I will not flinch in the face of threats like that, which constitutes legislative bribery, in my opinion, a felony.”

Harris believes that Burrows will be elected as speaker on Jan. 14 with a majority of the support of the Republican caucus. Harris noted that Cook is not the caucus nominee because he did not get 60% of the Republican caucus votes. 

He encouraged Texans to reach out to their representatives themselves as there will be politically charged attacks and misinformation coming in their mailbox in the coming months. 

Regarding the ongoing legal battle in East Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson’s case, Harris said Roberson has appeared for multiple hearings via Zoom, and this effort to have him testify in-person is “a bit of a circus.” 

Roberson, who has been on death row for over 20 years, was convicted in the death of 2-year-old daughter Nikki Curtis in 2003. He has proclaimed his innocence for years, and his lawyers have said his conviction was based on the junk science of “Shaken Baby Syndrome.” Subpoenas from Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence caused Roberson’s October execution to be halted. 

Harris said Nikki’s family is ready for closure and to see justice served for Roberson, who Harris says was rightfully found guilty of killing Nikki. 

“The way the committee continues to drag this on and on, it causes a lot of hurt and for the family of Nikki Curtis,” Harris said. 

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