Convenience Big Store: Texas House speaker race hits homestretch

houstonchronicle.com

View in Browser

NEW YEAR SALE! Only 25¢

Fresh Start. Full Access.

Act Now

Sale Ends Jan. 20 | Cancel Anytime

And the winner is…

It's finally time for Texas to pick a Speaker of the House.

On Tuesday, the Legislature officially gets underway and the first order of business in the House will be voting to determine who will lead the Texas House during the 2025 session.

Current House Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont announced last month he would not seek to continue as the speaker, which has set off a scramble for a new speaker that has included more than a half dozen contenders at times.

But the battle on Tuesday is expected to be really between two key players, Lubbock's Dustin Burrows and Mansfield's David Cook — both Republicans. The winner gets immense power over the Legislature's agenda, allowing them to select chairs of every one of the more than 40 committees in the House. That goes a long way in decide what the Legislature ultimately debates on the floor.

Cook has backing from a majority of Texas House Republicans, but not enough support to get to the 76 votes needed to win. Burrows has support from fewer of the 88 Republicans in the Texas House but could get to 76 with crossover votes from Democrats.

The math would seemingly give Burrows the edge, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who runs the Texas Senate, and Attorney General Ken Paxton — both Republicans — are trying to stop that from happening because he's getting much of his backing from Democrats.

"I do not support any Republican who is elected Speaker by a few Republicans and a majority of Democrats," Patrick said on social media earlier this week.

He then added: "Any Republican who wins with a majority of Democrats will be a counterfeit Speaker who will be beholden to the Democrats."

Paxton took it even further. He's been traveling the state this week and holding public events where he has threatened to back Republican primary challengers against any Texas House Republican that doesn't support Cook for the post over Burrows.

"If they don't listen, we are going to come back and primary them next session and beat them," Paxton said at one of those events in Fort Worth, according to Jack Fink at CBS11 in Dallas.

But as my Texas Take Podcast co-host Scott Braddock noted, Paxton is supporting Cook, who in 2023 was one of the Texas House Republicans who voted to impeach him. Braddock asked Paxton about that during a stop in Leander, outside of Austin, earlier this week.

"I've talked to Rep. Cook and he's been apologetic and I'm ready to move on with him," Paxton said.

Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said it's clear that Paxton and Patrick think they will have more influence over the Texas House if Cook is the victor. He said for years Patrick has complained about how much legislation proposed in the Texas Senate doesn't get voted on in the House. With Cook leading the House, he believes he'll have a better chance of getting Senate priorities through.

For any bill to pass the Legislature, it must clear both the House and the Senate before Gov. Greg Abbott decides if it becomes law.

Jeremy Wallace, Texas politics reporter

jeremy.wallace@houstonchronicle.com

Who's up, who's down

Up: Everett Roy.

The Corpus Christi council member won his re-election on Tuesday by a beed. That's right a beed. Because he and his opponent Billy Lerma each received 1,916 votes in a run-off election in December, the winner was decided by a roll of dice, which then determined who would be first in picking out a numbered beed out of a box to determine the winner. Roy pulled the number 3, and Lerma got a 2. That made Roy the winner of his re-election bid.

Down: TikTok.

The Supreme Court on Friday seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States beginning Jan. 19 unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company. If left in place, the law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April will require TikTok to "go dark" on Jan. 19, lawyer Noel Francisco told the justices on behalf of TikTok.

What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.

What else is going on in Texas

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appears remotely for a sentencing hearing in front of New York State Judge Juan Merchan in the criminal case in which he was convicted in 2024 on charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, at New York Criminal Court in Manhattan in New York, Jan. 10, 2025. (Brendan McDermid via AP, Pool)

Photo by: Brendan McDermid, AP

Donald Trump gets no-penalty sentence in his hush money case

President-elect Donald Trump is facing sentencing for his New York hush money conviction after the nation's highest court refused to intervene.

A classroom is shown at Benavidez Elementary School on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024 in Houston. If passed, HISD's $4.4 billion bond proposes spending more than $29 million to renovate the campus.

Photo by: Brett Coomer, Staff Photographer

Texas school finance explained: What is 'recapture'

A total of 180 districts, out of more than 1,000 statewide, give a portion of their property tax revenue to the state instead of spending it on their students.

FILE - Venezuelan Victor Macedo holds his daughter Sonia at their home, in in Davie, Fla., Sept. 27, 2023. The family crossed the border U.S. almost two years ago. Since then, they have been living in South Florida with the support of family and friends. They recently qualified for temporary protected status.

Photo by: Marta Lavandier, AP

Biden extends protections for Venezuelans, Salvadorans asylum seekers

The Department of Homeland Security says about 600,000 Venezuelans and more than 200,000 El Salvadorans already living in the United States can legally remain another 18 months.

Audrey H. Lawson Middle School students walk in file to their classrooms Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023 in Houston.

Photo by: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff Photographer

Here's how students, teachers and principals told HISD they feel

Students indicated teachers had rigorous expectations of them, while teachers indicated they were split on district's direction.

Jeremy Wallace and Scott Braddock talk all things Texas politics on the Texas Take podcast, released every Friday.

Photo by: Nadya Hassan

We are kicking off the New Year with a packed edition of the Texas Take Podcast. The Quorum Report's Scott Braddock and I dig deep into the speaker's race, talk about some of the legislation we expect to dominate the session, and look deeper into the fight over casinos. Check it out for free here.

What else I'm reading

President-elect Donald Trump isn't the only one who wants to buy Greenland. The Texas Tribune reports that Cruz used his podcast this week to back the idea publicly. "The United States acquiring Greenland is a very, very good idea," Cruz said.