Burrows Foes List Shrinks from 60 to 2
as Conservatives Rip Harrison Tactics
Capitol Inside
April 10, 2025
The potentially insurmountable opposition that Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows faced from colleagues in the GOP when he entered the fight for the gavel in December had all but disappeared by the time he reaped an unsolicited vote of confidence on Wednesday in response to a move to take the job away.
After having nearly 60 Republicans promise to support his only rival in the leadership contest when he launched his bid for speaker four months ago, Burrows won the post on opening day of the 2025 regular session when 52 GOP members backed State Rep. David Cook as the party caucus nominee. Three Democrats voted for Cook in the speaker's election on January 14.
The number of Republicans who were viewed as Burrows adversaries had fallen considerably by the time the House adopted the rules for the 2025 regular session on January 23. Thirty-four Republicans defied the speaker's team when they voted to force a vote on the rules without protracted debate. Only 22 Republicans cast dissenting votes on the rules package in House Resolution 4 that day.
Christmas came early for the powerful Lubbock lawmaker on Wednesday when far-right Republican State Rep. Brian Harrison of Midlothian sought to have the House fire Burrows on Wednesday in a motion to "remove the chair" that he packed into a historic proposal in House Resolution 823. The House voted 141-2 to kill the resolution in a development that made it appear like Burrows had turned out to be one of the most popular and least divisive speakers in the history of the Lone Star State.
The overwhelming nature of the vote to table HR 823 appeared to be more of a message to Harrison than a referendum on Burrows' first three months in the dais. Freshman State Rep. David Lowe of Fort Worth - secured a unique footnote in the House annals as the only member to vote to terminate the speaker besides the author of the failed resolution himself.
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt - an Arlington Republican who's been one of the chamber's most conservative members throughout the past decade - moved swiftly after the vote to distance himself from Harrison. The motion to remove Burrows "was not about reforming the Texas House," Tinderholt said in a post on X. "There was no path to improving our chamber today. Representative Harrison stood for himself."
A quartet of rookie Republicans who opposed Burrows in the speaker's election - State Reps. Katrina Pierson of Rockwall, Daniel Alders of Tyler, Shelley Luther of Tom Bean and Joanne Shofner of Nacogdoches - signed a joint statement for the House journal to explain votes to bury the Harrison motion.
"My vote to table HR 823 is about standing with my colleagues to serve the people of Texas, not indulging in the political stunts some members use to position themselves for higher office," Pierson said in the formal explanation that she composed for the Journal. "My priority is addressing the pressing needs of my constituents in my district, particularly on the budget, school choice, and property tax relief. I will not be bullied into taking sides or let anything derail me from the legislative work we were elected to do."
Another rookie legislator - GOP State Rep. Brent Money of Greenville - suggested that he voted to table the Harrison resolution because it would have sparked a "showdown" on the floor from which Burrows would emerge as the only winner. Money acknowledged that he'd opposed and criticized Burrows since he was elected as the speaker with 49 votes from Democrats.
"However, he remains our Speaker until 76 members of the Texas House decide otherwise," Money said on X.
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