Phelan will remain in the Texas House of Representatives.
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan dropped his bid on Dec. 6 to keep his leadership post amid tensions within the GOP in the state Legislature.
“By stepping aside, I believe we create the best opportunity for our members to rally around a new candidate who will uphold the principles that make our House one of the most exceptional, deliberative legislative bodies in the country—a place where honor, integrity, and the right of every member to vote their district takes utmost precedent,” he said in
a statement.
Phelan, a Republican who has been speaker since January 2021, narrowly won his primary against David Covey, who was endorsed by President-elect Donald Trump.
Some Republicans saw Phelan as an establishment figure and someone who went against other Texas Republicans.
During his tenure, Phelan led the charge to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton following an allegation that the latter used his office to benefit a wealthy donor friend.
“If Paxton will break an oath to his wife and God, why would he tell Trump, or you, the truth?” said Phelan in
an ad during the primary.
Paxton was ultimately acquitted.
In a
Dec. 6 statement, Paxton responded to the news of Phelon’s withdrawal: “Phelan’s legacy is one of betrayal: prioritizing Democrat interests over his own caucus, leaving Republican members exposed, attempting a shameful impeachment stunt and consistently failing to deliver for the voters who sent him to Austin. His so-called ‘leadership’ disqualified him long before this moment.”
Texas state Rep. Brian Harrison in
a statement called Phelan’s announcement “a welcome, and long overdue, victory.” He was the first member of the Legislature to call on Phelan to stand down.
“However, Dade Phelan was not the central problem with the Texas House. He was simply the most visible manifestation of it, and we must ensure he is not replaced by someone also beholden to the same swamp,” he said.
Phelan will remain in the Texas House of Representatives.
“I am profoundly grateful to those who have supported me throughout my speakership—principled conservatives who have shown steadfast resolve and courage in the face of immense intimidation from outsiders wishing to influence our chamber and its processes,” Phelan’s statement also said. “Though the battle for my speakership is over, the war for the integrity of this chamber wages on—and we will win.”
During the primary, Trump
said Phelan was “bad, bad, bad for the Republican Party and democracy.”
With Phelan out of the speaker race, state Reps. Dustin Burrows and David Cook, both Republicans, are the only ones who remain.
Phelan has come under fire when it comes to allowing for school choice in Texas as the state Legislature has failed to give vouchers to families so they can send their children to a school other than public school.
“Speaker Dade Phelan didn’t help either,” said Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick in a November 2023
statement after the Texas House failed to pass school choice legislation. “Phelan abstained from voting on school choice. Talk about a lack of leadership. It’s hard to pass school choice when the Speaker is too cowardly to vote for it himself.”
Phelan has since supported school choice.
In a readout,
according to The Texan, Phelan said the 2025 legislative priorities include “a strong focus on school choice and education funding, with close collaboration planned with [Texas Gov. Greg] Abbott, the Texas Senate, House members and Chairman Brad Buckley of the House Public Education Committee.”
Following primary elections this year, where anti-school choice Republicans lost to those who support it, Abbott said there will be enough votes to finally expand choice to Texans.
Burrows and
Cook support school choice.
“Last year, while I worked with my fellow legislators to increase funding, our schools and allow for school choice (without taking any money from local districts), a gang of education associations (such as the Texas Association of School Boards “TASB” and the Texas Association of School Administrators “TASA”), and their lobbyists (paid with your tax dollars) came at us in wave after wave of opposition,”
wrote Burrows in the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal in October.
“This powerful gang is used to getting its way, and has had way too much influence on Texas education policy for decades.”
Burrows vowed to support school choice in the next legislative session.
“It’s up to this community to push back on that mob-movie intimidation by the gang of education lobbyists, so we can find sensible solutions for finance and school choice next Session,” he wrote. “Our children deserve nothing less.”
Burrows faces opposition, however, from hardline conservatives.
“The choice is clear. Dade Phelan stepped down because he knew the only way to keep all of these broken systems in power was to endorse Dustin Burrows to replace him,” state Rep. Tony Tinderholt wrote on X. State Rep. Trent Ashby
said that Cook “will unite the Caucus by empowering members to work collaboratively with our House colleagues, Lt. Governor Patrick, the Texas Senate, and Governor Abbott to deliver the conservative results that the overwhelming majority of Texans expect and demand.”
