Push to Keep Burrows Ally Off Ballot
Could Set Rule 44 Up for Court Killing
Capitol Inside
July 3, 2025
The state GOP will get a chance to put a controversial platform plank known as Rule 44 to the ultimate test in the wake of a local party organization's vote this week to block a powerful lieutenant on Speaker Dustin Burrows' leadership team from seeking a new term in the Texas House in 2026.
The Henderson County Republican Party's executive committee voted 5-1 on Monday night to censure State Rep. Cody Harris of Palestine in a resolution that would be tantamount to a death sentence for his legislative career with a call for his banning from the primary ballot in a re-election race in House District 8.
Harris - the Natural Resources Committee chairman - is one of at least five House Republicans who've been censured by local parties this year after spurning the GOP caucus nominee in the speaker's election in January when Burrows claimed the gavel with support from Democrats as the victory key.
State Reps. Angie Chen Button of Garland and Morgan Meyer of Dallas faced censure votes from the Dallas GOP in February when Montgomery County Republican Party activists took the same basic action against State Reps. Cecil Bell of Magnolia and Will Metcalf of Conroe. All of the targeted GOP lawmakers are running again next year if they're not prohibited from doing so by state or local party organizations.
The Texas Republican Party plans to consider the local resolutions condemning the lawmakers for violations of Rule 44 in the House leadership fight, the vote on the chamber's rules and other transgressions that activists in their individual districts have alleged. The actual denial of applications for spots on the March ballot could be the first step to the defusing of Rule 44 with lawsuits branding the platform provision as a blatant violation of the U.S. and state constitutions that undermines democracy.
The prevailing sentiment inside the statehouse beltway in Austin is that attempts to prevent incumbent lawmakers from running again as products of political feuding would have no chance whatsoever to survive in the judiciary. But the GOP in Texas could face repercussions that many activists haven't taken time to consider if the courts allowed the party to enforce Rule 44 by depriving censured incumbents of the right to run again for jobs to which most had been elected by wide margins in the past.
Democrats as an example would have decent shots at flipping the House districts that Meyer and Button represent in a solid blue Dallas County if the incumbents aren't on the ballot in 2026. The rule has massive potential to backfire by stripping Republican voters of the right to decide who will represent them in the Legislature.
The Henderson County GOP resolution that targets Harris calls for a two-year prohibition from seeking office again as a Republican. Harris said in a letter to the local party that the resolution is riddled with inaccuracies and statements that show a lack of basic comprehension on the way the Texas Legislature's lower chamber operates.
Harris argued that a number of cases that are cited in the censureship resolution are highly deceiving because they accuse of him of failing to vote on conservative bills at times when he was subbing for Burrows on the dais where the speaker and members who are in his place rarely vote on individual pieces of legislation.
Harris said the resolution falsely accuses him of failing to take a stand on a pro-Second Amendment protection measure in House Bill 1696. The East Texas lawmaker said he supported for the proposal on second reading before being recorded as "present, not voting" on the final tally when he was acting as the speaker's replacement in the chair.
Harris disputed all of 17 accusations that the local party activists lodged against him as false or misleading and hypocritical in the letter that he'd sent to them before the vote to censure.
"The resolution before you is not only factually incorrect, but also incongruent with our Republican Principles and Platform itself."
Harris contended that he wasn't bound to back the caucus nominee for speaker because he'd violated a pledge card ban that the party supported. Harris denied a censure resolution claim that he'd gone against the "unified will" of Republicans with his support for Burrows in the speaker's election.
Harris pointed out that the House had "renewed relationships" with Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and the Senate as a product of the Lubbock lawmaker's debut session as speaker.
"Any sober analysis shows that more conservative policies passed this session than has occurred in over a decade," Harris asserted in the letter refuting the local party claims.
Harris defeated a GOP primary challenger in 2024 with almost 83 percent of the vote. The HD 8 incumbent captured nearly 85 percent of the primary vote in Henderson County. Less than 17 percent of the voters in Harris' district are located in Henderson County - the smallest of four counties that he represents along with Anderson, Navarro and Cherokee. Harris represents 39 percent of Henderson County.
Harris is required to file his application for the primary ballot with the state party in Austin as a lawmaker whose districts covers multiple counties.
Harris wielded substantial sway during the regular session this year as a member of the Calendars Committee and the Licensing & Administrative Procedures Committee on top of the chairmanship. He was one of several Republicans who stood in for the speaker the most along with State Reps. Cody Vasut of Angleton and Brooks Landgraf of Odessa.
more to come ...
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