A suburban Republican who's backing State Rep. David Cook for Texas House speaker issued a plea for compassion, reconciliation and heavenly guidance on Monday as a bare-knuckled brawl for the gavel entered its final week before the election on the chamber floor on opening day of the regular session in 2025.
"Pray for us," State Rep. Candy Noble of Lucas said in a five-page letter to constituents. "Pray for our leadership and that each member would look to God for wisdom on that search. Give each member the benefit of the doubt that they are representing their constituents to the best of their ability.
"Let's act like Christians and show that we can love and disagree without being hateful or disagreeable," the third-term representative added. "Let's remember that we don't grow our party with disunity, but on common goals and good policy."
Noble sounded the call for understanding and harmony at a time when Republicans outside the chamber like Attorney General Ken Paxton and state party Chairman Abraham George were in the midst of a four-city swing that's been a stage for warnings about primary voter retribution for GOP members who support State Rep. Dustin Burrows for the leadership post.
Burrows appears to have the inside track as long as he has most or all of the chamber's 62 Democrats on board for a campaign that's featured 30 Republicans who've held their ground in the face of unprecedented pressure for a leadership contest in the Texas Capitol's west wing. The powerful Lubbock lawmaker's Republican pledges can be expected to dig in even deeper in response to intimidation tactics that Paxton and George have employed with no apparent success this week.
Paxton hasn't been Cook's most outspoken advocate on the tour that's designed on the speaker's candidate's behalf. Paxton suggested on Monday in Tyler that he wasn't really backing a specific candidate for speaker and simply wanted to see the House GOP Caucus nominee get the job. The apparent lack of enthusiasm for Cook could be due to the fact that he voted to impeach the three-time elected attorney general at the end of the regular session in 2023.
“I want the person selected by the Republican caucus," Paxton told The Texan. "I'm not here to pick a candidate. It's not my job. No, I want a person that is elected by all the Republicans and not a coalition of Democrats. That's not the way this should work.”
Noble may have made a stronger case for Burrows than Paxton did for Cook as the caucus nominee. Noble said she was highly impressed with Burrows' work as the chairman of the tax-writing Ways & Means Committee in 2019 when she was a freshman member of the panel.
"We did significant property tax reform under his leadership, and he was a great communicator as a chairman," Noble said. "We always knew where we were headed as a committee, and he explained both the process and the purpose of our mission as a committee very clearly."
Noble questioned why "a handful" of House Republicans were hailed as heroes instead of being "vilified" for refusing to support the caucus nominee in the leadership fight two years ago when Speaker Dade Phelan captured a second term in the dais.
Noble said the current competition for speaker had "two outstanding conservative Republicans" as candidates despite attempts on the right to brand Burrows supporters as traitorous RINOs who are selling out to Democrats. "Yes, you heard me right," Noble said. "No matter what you've heard to the contrary, both men who are currently running are good guys and would do a great job leading the House."
But Noble's pitch for Cook didn't focus on experience or accomplishments as a second-term House member. "David Cook is my deskmate on the House floor, and I love him and his wife Tonya. His grandkids call him "Cookie," so together we are "Candy and Cookie" and the snacks (candy and cookies) make our desks a popular stop on the House floor. I am on the record supporting him for Speaker."
