Texas election results leave Republicans fractured

Dade Phelan, the speaker of the Texas House, narrowly survived a primary runoff against fellow Republican David Covey despite Donald Trump urging voters to force him out amid an ongoing civil war within the Texas GOP.

The Associated Press called the Texas House District 21 race for Phelan late on May 28, and Decision Desk HQ reported Phelan had 50.7 percent of the vote against Covey’s 49.3 percent, with about 97 percent of results recorded as of 4:50 a.m. ET Wednesday.

The Republican Party of Texas has been rocked by infighting between hard-line supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement and more traditional politicians. In September, the impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton , another Republican, deepened the conflict.

Phelan presided over the trial, in which Paxton was acquitted of corruption and abuse of official capacity charges. Four months earlier, he was impeached by the GOP-controlled Texas House by 121 votes against 23, resulting in his suspension from office. All 150 seats in the Texas House are up for election in November.

Following his acquittal, Paxton began what the Dallas Morning News dubbed “an ever-expanding revenge tour,” targeting those Texas Republicans he deemed responsible for the impeachment, including Phelan.

After the runoff, Paxton wrote on X that Phelan’s victory was secured by Democratic voters and called for closed Republican primaries.

“Democrats just reelected Dade Phelan,” he said. “We must close our primaries. Now.”

Phelan wrote on X after his primary win: “Tonight, I am immensely grateful to the voters of Southeast Texas, who have spoken loud and clear: in Southeast Texas, we set our own course—our community is not for sale, and our values are not up for auction.

“I owe a profound debt of gratitude to every voter and volunteer whose relentless dedication turned that vision into tonight’s resounding victory.”

Monday, Trump, the presumptive Republican 2024 presidential nominee, wrote on Truth Social that Phelan had inflicted an “absolute embarrassment” on Texas and the Republican Party.

“David Covey is running against Dade Phelan, the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, who led the Fraudulent Impeachment of the recently re-elected, in a landslide, Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton,” Trump wrote.

After referencing comments Phelan made about voting for Trump a third time, the former president added: “Words, however, do not mitigate the Absolute Embarrassment Speaker Phelan inflicted upon the State of Texas and our Great Republican Party! Therefore, David Covey has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Texas’ 21st State House District—Texas, Get Out to Vote, Tomorrow!”

Newsweek has contacted Speaker Dade Phelan’s and David Covey’s campaigns for comment by email outside normal office hours.

In March, Covey beat Phelan by 46 percent of the vote to 43 percent in the GOP primary. The contest went to a runoff as neither candidate passed the 50 percent threshold.

During the campaign, Covey repeatedly questioned Phelan’s conservative credentials and criticized him for appointing Democrats to chair some legislative committees, as is standard practice in the Texas House.

Reacting to the March primary result, Covey said, “The days of Republicans empowering Democrats are over.” Phelan, meanwhile, said “a tidal wave of outside influence” had been deployed against him.

Some Covey supporters dubbed Phelan a RINO, Republican in name only, during the campaign.

According to Texas Monthly, former Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Phelan supporter, embraced the description, saying: “I think it’s kind of sexy, frankly, when you think about it. In Africa, it’s one of the baddest boys on the block.”