The speaker of the Texas House, Dade Phelan, on Friday dropped his bid to continue his leadership, bowing to pressure from hard-right members of the Republican caucus.
Mr. Phelan, 49, has been one of the most powerful elected officials in Texas, and has steered the legislature in a more conservative direction on issues such as immigration, abortion, guns, religion and elections.
But he frequently clashed with hard-right Republicans — including, most bitterly, with Ken Paxton, the attorney general — who complained that he was insufficiently conservative. And though Mr. Phelan survived a bruising primary runoff in May against a first-time candidate backed by President-elect Donald J. Trump, he lost support this week from key allies, jeopardizing his chances of prevailing on Saturday, when Texas House Republicans convene to pick a new speaker.
“Out of deep respect for this institution and its members, and after careful consideration and private consultation with colleagues, I have made the difficult decision to withdraw from the race for Speaker of the Texas House,” Mr. Phelan said in a statement. He said that he would work with his colleagues to “nominate a candidate who can best unite the House and ensure our beloved chamber remains a beacon of integrity and conservative leadership.”
Mr. Phelan, who has represented a district in southeast Texas since 2015, said that he would remain in the House. He also alluded to the exorbitant cost of intraparty battles: West Texas oil and gas billionaires and out-of-state school-choice advocates spent millions of dollars to back his challenger, David Covey, while Mr. Phelan benefited from deep-pocketed Republican megadonors like Miriam Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate.
“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,” he said. “Though the battle for my speakership is over, the war for the integrity of this chamber wages on — and we will win.”
Republicans in Texas will now have 88 votes in the 150-member House when the new session begins in January, expanding their majority in a chamber they have controlled since 2003.
But Mr. Phelan angered conservatives after the Texas House voted to impeach Mr. Paxton on charges of corruption and abuse of office in 2023. (Mr. Paxton was acquitted in a Senate trial presided over by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, another opponent of Mr. Phelan.)
Chief among the complaints about Mr. Phelan’s tenure was his support of the longstanding Texas House practice of giving some committee chairmanships to the opposing party.
Heading into Saturday’s Republican caucus meeting, momentum appeared to be squarely behind Representative David Cook, who represents a district southwest of Dallas, to take over the role of House speaker.
Indeed, Representative David Spiller, who had been viewed as a key ally of Mr. Phelan, announced earlier this week that he would back Mr. Cook for speaker — in part because of a disagreement over committee assignments.
“As I’ve consistently stated many times, I don’t support Democrat chairs, I’ve never supported Democrat chairs, and I’ve never voted for Democrat chairs,” he said in a statement. “Under David Cook’s leadership, we’re not going to have Democrat chairs this next session.”
Mr. Cook is not a shoo-in: Representative Dustin Burrows, who represents Lubbock and is considered Mr. Phelan’s ally, officially entered the race by filing the required paperwork with the Texas Ethics Commission. An aide said Mr. Burrows was “out working for support” from Republican colleagues Friday morning.
But in interviews in the hallways of the statehouse on Friday, Republicans predicted that Mr. Cook would ultimately receive enough votes — 53 out of 88, or 60 percent — to claim the speaker’s gavel.
Mike Olcott, a North Texas Republican who was one of 15 challengers to oust 15 Republican incumbents from the House in primaries and runoffs in this cycle, said he would vote for Mr. Cook. He said he was concerned that Mr. Burrows would effectively extend Mr. Phelan’s leadership.
“With Dustin Burrows, we’re going to have the same culture and the same environment,” he said. “We just believe that we want the Texas House to operate like it did 50 years ago. We want to decentralize the power of the speaker of the House.”
The Texas House Democratic Caucus did not comment directly on the leadership battle and said it was “focused on the real problems affecting Texans: struggling public schools, unregulated price gouging after disasters and the loss of bodily autonomy.”
The most barbed comments may have come from Mr. Paxton, who celebrated “the demise of Speaker Dade Phelan” and his legacy of “betrayal: prioritizing Democrat interests over his own caucus.”
Then he attacked Mr. Burrows.
“Burrows is Dade 2.0,” Mr. Paxton warned. “Supporting Burrows is a betrayal of the conservative movement. Voters will remember.”
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