Pressure mounts on Texas Republicans ahead of House Speaker vote
A usually internal Texas House discussion has become a public knife fight. Text messages, digital ads and new polling indicate the January vote will be an issue in the next Republican primary
Factions fighting over political power in the Texas House indicate they’ll continue their fight to the March 2026 Republican primary.
The two Speaker of the Texas House candidates are trying to win over 76 votes ahead of a crucial floor vote on the first day of the 89th legislative session, Jan. 14.
A key question for many Republican House members will be whether the new leadership appoints Democrats as chairs of key committees per the long-running bipartisan tradition of the lower chamber.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC DFW’s News Headlines newsletter.
State Rep. David Cook, R – Mansfield, emerged as the choice of the Texas House Republican Caucus after pledging to scrap the tradition of appointing Democratic chairs. However, after a raucous meeting of the GOP caucus at the capitol, a faction walked out when they believed the process was being rushed. Their leader, State Rep. Dustin Burrows, R – Lubbock, emerged after the meeting and announced he reached the 76-vote threshold with half Republicans and half Democrats.
Burrows argued whether appointing Democratic committee chairs should be left up to the 150 members when they vote on the chamber’s rules.
A warning for a primary challenge
Since the chaotic caucus meeting, several members have publicly refuted their past positions as Cook and Burrows scramble to cobble together 76 votes.
A new poll by longtime Republican pollster Christopher Wilson shows pro-Cook parties are looking into whether primary voters will vote on the speaker’s race outcome and the idea of Democratic chairs. Wilson told NBC 5 that Republican primary voters are paying attention.
“What we found was a significant awareness of the race,” Wilson said in an interview.
Wilson asked primary voters in five districts represented by: Gary VanDeaver, R – New Boston; Jay Dean, R – Longview; Stan Gerdes, R – Smithville; recently withdrawn former Speaker Dade Phelan, R -Beaumont; and Jared Patterson, R – Frisco. In the five districts polled, 62% to 76% of primary voters were aware of the ongoing speaker’s race.
According to Wilson’s polling memo, 56% to 81% of GOP primary voters oppose the idea of Democratic chairs. Support for the incumbent House members dropped when prompted that Burrows may appoint Democrats as committee chairs. More voters polled wanted their members to support Cook when prompted.
“Burrows being supported by Democrats popped up in open-ended comments in a way that I would not have expected, and it had a big impact,” said Wilson, “The level of awareness of an insider issue is – stunning.”
Wilson was hired by the political action committee Texas Conservative Project PAC and has a margin of error of 5.6% per district. Wilson interviewed GOP primary voters by text, telephone, online, and artificial intelligence.
According to Transparency USA, the organization paying for the poll is funded by West Texas oilmen and political power players Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks. The duo has waged a nearly decade-long battle to gain more sway in the Texas House and change how the lower chamber operates. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, leader of the Texas Senate, and Attorney General Ken Paxton are some of their key Republican allies and have also waged a war against House leadership.
The groups trying to “reform” the Texas House have survived scandals, played a key role in ousting a past Speaker, and consistently worked against incumbent Republicans they believe are not conservative enough.
Wilson’s poll also tested Jace Yarborough, a conservative candidate who over-performed expectations when forcing Brent Hagenbuch into a runoff for the Texas Senate, as a challenger to Rep. Jared Patterson, R – Frisco.
“It’s a free world and people can run against [me] if they choose. I can tell you that we are ready for that battle,” said Patterson in response to the Wilson poll for Lone Star Politics.
Patterson told NBC 5 he will vote against Democratic chairs when the chamber takes the issue up through the rules process. He supports the thorough and “transparent” way Burrows promises to govern. Ranked as one of the most conservative members of the Texas House, Patterson argues it’s not about policy or ideology but who’s in control and who’s not.
“I do know that there are a few members who seem hellbent on trying to burn down the Texas House and hand it over to these fringe groups on the outside. We are not going to let that happen. I would rather give up my seat then to turn the Texas House over to these fringe elements,” said Patterson.
This is the latest indication the speaker’s race and the Democratic chair issue will be brought before voters in 2026. Last week, leaders in the Texas GOP increased the pressure on Republican lawmakers to try to switch them away from Burrows and toward Cook. Republican Party chair Abraham George sent text messages asking members to “unite” and vote for Cook.
“Before the Republican Party of Texas sends any direct mail into your district, I wanted an opportunity to personally connect about your public position,” wrote George, according to the Texas Tribune. The party has also hinted that it would censure members not voting for Cook and may even ban them for two years from the Republican ballot – a throwback to previous days when party insiders selected which candidates made it to voters.
The Burrows coalition fights back
This public fight has been long in the making. In 2023, a federal judge accepted a settlement that allowed outside money to be spent on the speaker’s race. Dunn and Wilks backed groups worked for the change and were largely successful while mobilizing from Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The actions turned what was usually a member-to-member inside game into a public fight for control. It’s allowed political action committees and mega-donors to play a larger role in the public pressure campaign.
However, the Republican-led but bipartisan coalition behind Burrows is also mobilizing outside groups to reach 76 votes. The current – but recently resigned – Speaker Dade Phelan, R- Beaumont, successfully defended his seat in possibly the most expensive House race in American history. The process built up huge campaign operations that now may be used in the Burrows-Cook fight to lead the chamber.
A group called Defend Texas Freedom has launched a text message campaign against Cook, calling him “shamefully liberal” for “giving tax breaks to corporations that funded out-of-state abortions.” Similar digital ads have begun to run across Texas.
“Capitol insiders have whiplash watching David Cook reinvent himself as some conservative champion,” said Patterson.
Another organization, American Opportunity PAC, is running ads in support of Burrows as a “conservative leader we need to protect our way of life.”
Tough, personal choice
The inner-party fight is often a dispute over the process and style of government. The current coalition argues they have a collaborative approach that lets each of the 150 members – both Republican and Democrat – represent their district the way they choose.
They fear the “reformers” want to bring Washington D.C.-style majority rule to Texas. Letting Democrats in the coalition removes some hurdles when passing the state budget and popular constitutional amendments, which need Democratic votes to pass a 100-vote threshold per the state constitution. Scrapping a bipartisan coalition may lead to a more oppositional approach from the minority party – forcing state government shutdowns as an extreme step.
Patterson argues the House has delivered on major conservative priorities like a historic property tax relief, historic border security funding, a near total ban on abortions, and the ability to carry guns without a permit.
However, the “reformers” want to overhaul the parliamentarian process and chamber rules. Democratic committee chairs are simply the flashpoint.
“Stop the infighting, stop the civil war, uniting behind what voters clearly sent us here to do,” said Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R – Austin, who’s supporting Cook in the race for Speaker.
She argued that the historic conservative legislation had passed only after multiple special sessions last year, with intense political pressure from Abbott and Patrick. The Republican majority, she said, should be able to pass their priorities in the normal 140-day session. She also points to the dramatic failure of the House to pass an Abbott priority of allowing parents to use public school dollars on private schools and homeschooling programs.
“When you look at the mandate from the November election, that was a mandate to say stop business as usual. Start paying attention to what the voters are telling you,” said Troxclair.
Another revenge tour?
The personal member-on-member fight will no doubt lead to another intense primary election.
After the House rejected Abbott’s school choice voucher priority, Abbott went on the warpath, spending millions of dollars to oust fellow Republicans who rebuffed him. He now says he has the votes to support his education reform. Cook voted “present” on the vote. Burrows voted in support.
The impeachment of Paxton also added fuel to the 2024 Republican primary. Cook and Burrows both voted to impeach him on corruption and bribery allegations. Paxton was later exonerated by the Texas Senate in another controversial vote with intense outside pressure.
Cook is also soliciting support from Democratic House lawmakers but has committed to not give them committee chairs if elected speaker.
The speaker’s vote is setting up to be another issue which powerful conservative groups aim to take in front of the voters in the Republican primary in a little more than a year. Wilson’s poll, the text campaign, the digital ads, and political pressure will likely continue throughout the Jan. 14 vote and the weeks and months afterward.
