The GOP push for absolute power backfired in spectacular fashion in the Texas House on Tuesday when three dozen moderate Republicans teamed with the lion's share of Democrats to elect Dustin Burrows as the new speaker with an 85-55 victory over David Cook as the majority party caucus nominee.
Cook watched his bid for speaker die by the same sword that he wielded with a promise to give the GOP monopoly control over House committees in a small-scale remake of Congress. Cook couldn't unite the Republicans or divide the Democrats sufficiently to bridge the gap within his own party.
But Cook and his supporters made the epic mistake of thinking they could scare House establishment team members aligned with Burrows into giving up the power that's defined them as lawmakers in the face of threats and fears of possible primary foes in re-election races more than a year away. That's why none of 30 Burrows core loyalists budged despite warnings of voter revenge from a who's who on the right from the Texas GOP to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and others invested substantial political capital in the fight and failed to turn a single vote.
The handwriting for the outcome had been on the wall for weeks with Cook stuck in neutral with 56 Republican votes and an inability to woo Democrats who he desperately needed to compensate for the GOP split. That was a tough sale for a leadership candidate who'd pledged to ban his Democratic colleagues from sharing power with committee chairmanships reserved exclusively for the ruling party members for the first time in the history of the Lone Star State. With the position on Democrats and the predictable failure of fearmongering tactics against fellow Republicans, the GOP caucus winner never appeared to have a chance.
The closest Texas speaker's election ever produced some very big winners and losers beyond the new House leader and the caucus candidate who was no match for Burrows in terms of accomplishment, experience and proven leadership skills in an arena where the lawyer from the South Plains had been a major player for the past half-dozen years.
WINNERS
Texas House Democrats. The Democrats came out in better shape as a whole than they've been in 22 years of Republican rule after 49 cast votes for Burrows on the floor as the House's first major order of business in the new regular session. Democrats accounted for almost 58 percent of the new Republican speaker's vote - and they will expect to be rewarded accordingly if Burrows wants to keep the job beyond one term. The short-sighted pledge to strip the Democrats of clout they'd had under all four of the GOP speakers before Burrows ended up being a godsend for the minority party's members.
GOP Establishment. The old-school business establishment that put the Republicans in power in Texas was a significant victor in the Texas speaker sweepstakes as well. The Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC is the most glowing example of a group that's invested substantially in the current leadership team that Burrows is taking over for his friend and ally Dade Phelan. Dennis Bonnen could see his stock as a lobbyist go up as an unintended consequence of Cook backers' attempts to portray the former speaker as an agent of evil and corruption who's running the House and Burrows from behind the scenes.
Burrows Republicans. Thirty-six Republicans who backed Burrows on the floor despite historically ferocious outside pressure will reap the spoils of victory with chairs on every House committee that a Democrat isn't leading during the Legislature's 89th regular session. Those who are already chairs will either keep their current posts or get promotions to more prestigious assignments. But
Burrows allies like GOP State Reps. Lacey Hull of Houston, Cole Hefner of Mount Pleasant and Carl Tepper of Lubbock could score their first-ever committee leadership posts after holding their ground in the midst of relentless outside intimidation.
The House has a number of openings for committee chairs that will give Burrows plenty of plums to spread around. Can you imagine how upset anti-Burrows Republicans would be if Tepper is leading the Higher Education Committee in 2025 as a sophomore lawmaker with Texas Tech University as the economic anchor of the city where he's a resident?
Burrows Freshmen. Brand new State Rep. Caroline Fairly of Amarillo could have her pick of seats on the most powerful House committees after switching her allegiance to Burrows hours before Tuesday's election in one of the all-time power moves by a rookie representative. Fairly's father set the stage for the new representative's thunder-stealing flip several days before the election when he backed off a threat of bankrolling primary challengers against GOP incumbents who refused to vote for Cook. But the younger Fairly demonstrated that she's more than just a twentysomething daddy's girl when she called out veteran hometown colleague John Smithee and encouraged him to follow her lead. Smithee for the record ignored the challenge and backed Cook on the floor as promised. Three other first-term Republicans - State Reps. John McQueeney of Fort Worth, Jeff Barry of Pearland and Denise Villalobos of Corpus Christi - voted for Burrows and can expect considerably better in the committee assignment competition than the 22 freshmen Republicans who were on the losing side on Tuesday.
LOSERS
Cook Republicans. Twenty-two of 55 Republicans who backed the caucus nominee for speaker on the floor are freshmen who may have actually believed they would be celebrating in the winners circle with Cook after the vote.
They can attribute their naivete on the dynamics of the House and speaker contests on the lack of experience. The biggest losers in the aftermath of the speaker's election could be a handful of House Republicans - State Reps. Trent Ashby of Lufkin, Briscoe Cain of Deer Park, James Frank of Wichita Falls, J.M. Lozano of Kingsville and Tom Oliverson of Cypress - who all gambled committee chairmanships on Cook and will expect to lose them now. GOP State Rep. Ryan Guillen of Rio Grande City could be saying goodbye to a plum post as the leader of the Homeland Security & Public Safety Committee after a last-minute switch to Cook before the election on Tuesday. The incumbents who thought Cook would win should have known better. They will have two years to reflect on their decisions while sitting together at the end of the House bench.
Texas GOP. The state party under the leadership of new Chairman Abraham George waged an aggressive campaign to pressure House Republicans into Cook's camp. George has threatened to keep Burrows backers off the 2026 primary ballot in retaliation for refusing to bow to the party line. George may have even less chance for success with the nuclear option than he had trying to scare up votes for Cook.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. The Texas Senate president may deserve some credit for the small group of committee chairs who voted for Cook and can expect purgings from the leadership roster as a result. While Patrick has GOP senators eating out of his hand, the lieutenant governor's bully tactics in the speaker's fight failed to turn a single vote after Cook claimed the caucus endorsement more than a month ago.
Attorney General Ken Paxton. A national party superstar after surviving an impeachment trial in 2023, the three-time elected state lawyer actually backed up his support for Cook with a four-city swing that targeted House Republicans pledged to Burrows. Paxton has the exact same amount of impact in the speaker's race as Patrick. None.
Donald Trump Jr. Let's be honest about this - the former and incoming president's son doesn't care who the Texas House speaker
happens to be. But Trump's kid let Patrick or Paxton or both rope him into the leadership fight here because his dad loves them both. But Trump the president-elect couldn't beat Phelan in a primary fight in his district as a three-headed monster with Paxton and Patrick. His oldest child's intervention in the speaker's race on social media turned exactly zero votes.
Midland Billionaires. Tim Dunn and other deep-pocket donors on the hard right learned that the Texas House isn't for sale to the highest bidders. The RINOs and the Democrats probably owe these folks a significant debt of gratitude for bombastic rhetoric and tactics that inspired Burrows backers from the GOP to dig in even deeper.
