Most GOP Allies Speaker Seeks to Protect
Took TLR Cash Except Top Primary Priority
Capitol Inside
January 29, 2026
Texas House leaders got a wagon-circling effort under way this week when Speaker Dustin Burrows identified more than a dozen incumbent Republicans he wants the members of his team without competitive primaries to bolster in the face of primary challenges in the final month before the election.
The Lubbock Republican who began his second year as the speaker this week outlined the ally protection strategy to committee chairs who were either at a meeting in Austin or participating on Zoom. Burrows designated rookie GOP State Rep. Marc LaHood of San Antonio as the leadership team's paramount priority for the March 3 primary election in a fight with challenger David McArthur for the House District 121 seat.
The GOP primary in HD 121 has erupted into a high-stakes proxy fight between the Texans for Lawsuit Reform PAC that's bankrolled McArthur's campaign and trial lawyers who've rallied behind the incumbent. LaHood played a pivotal role in the wrecking of the TLR agenda during his debut as a lawmaker in the regular session last year.
LaHood and McArthur
raised more than $2 million combined in 2025 - with the lion's share of their contributions coming courtesy of the tort reform group or lawyers who represent plaintiffs in civil cases. LaHood won the HD 121 seat in 2024 with Governor Greg Abbott's support after ousting a relatively moderate Republican in the primary election.
But Burrows received $100,000 from TLR in the final three months of 2025 - and most if not all of the House Republicans in primary fights that he views as priorities received substantial sums of campaign cash from the civil justice reform group last year as well.
The GOP representatives who Burrows wants the leadership team to fortify for contested primaries includes State Reps. Terri Leo Wilson of Galveston, Cecil Bell of Magnolia, Stan Gerdes of Smithville, Candy Noble of Allen, Stan Kitzman of Pattison, Angelia Orr of Itasca, Jared Patterson of Frisco, Angie Chen Button of Garland and Morgan Meyer of Dallas - according to sources familiar with the gameplan.
Burrows planned to help several allies pass the hat at events in January for GOP State Reps. Pat Curry of Waco and Jay Dean of Longview along with Meyer, Gerdes and Leo Wilson. Curry, Leo Wilson and LaHood all backed State Rep. David Cook of Mansfield for speaker in the leadership election a year ago as the Republican caucus nominee who Burrows defeated 85-55 on a second ballot when some of the Democrats in the lower chamber declined to vote in the final tally.
Several other high-ranking Burrows lieutenants are facing primary opponents in 2026 including GOP State Reps. Cody Harris of Palestine, Will Metcalf of Conroe, Jeff Leach of Allen, Lacey Hull of Houston, Ken King of Canadian and Cole Hefner of Mount Pleasant.
Burrows has appeared to be playing both sides in an ongoing war between the trial lawyers and TLR at the statehouse in Austin. Burrows, who's a trial lawyer himself, put LaHood in positions that made it possible for him to help kill TLR priority measures during the regular session in 2025. TLR leaders threatened to recruit primary challengers in the speaker's home district, in HD 121 where LaHood is on the ballot again and in a swath of the Dallas-Fort Worth area where freshman Republican State Rep. Mitch Little is seeking a second term this year. But Burrows and Little are unopposed in round one.
The HD 121 bout has been ranked number one on the Capitol Inside Texas Races to Watch for state House seats with Republican incumbents on the defensive since the list's unveiling last year. Leo Wilson, Kitzman and Orr are fighting to stave off primary challengers in three of the five highest ranked contests for House seats that aren't open in round one in 2026.
First-round duels that feature Leo Wilson and Orr on the primary ballot with challengers Nathan Watkins and Kat Wall respectively are second and third on the current list behind the leading fight on the opening card with LaHood on defense. Noble and Meyer are doing battle with GOP foes in races that are ranked in the top ten for Republicans.
more to come ...
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