A rookie Texas House Republican
raised the bar on irony, audacity and boldness to epic levels on Tuesday when she switched her allegiance to Dustin Burrows before the speaker's election just days after her father backed off a vow to spend $20 million against GOP members who fail to support David Cook for the post.
But State Rep. Caroline Fairly of Amarillo capped off the eleventh-hour turnabout when she encouraged the city's other House member - veteran State Rep. John Smithee - to follow her lead for the sake of the part of West Texas where they are residents.
The second longest serving Republican in the House, Smithee was one of nearly 60 GOP members who'd been pledged to Cook since he claimed the party caucus endorsement more than a month ago. While GOP State Rep. Cecil Bell Jr. flipped from Cook to Burrows after Fairly announced her defection from Cook's camp.
Fairly sought to debunk claims that Burrows has been cutting deals with Democrats who Cook had promised to punish if elected to replace Dade Phelan as the lower chamber's top leader as the House's first order of business after the 89th regular session opened for business at noon today.
Fairly, the House's youngest member in her mid-20s, suggested that the lion's share of newcomers from the GOP had pledged to Cook in fear of retribution in the primary election in re-election races in 2026.
"This vote has brought about an extraordinary amount of outside pressure, with threats aimed at those who don't support Mr. Cook," Fairly said. "Those who have indicated they won't support Cook have been attacked with misleading campaigns waged against them. To be clear, I don't believe these have come from, or been orchestrated by, Representative Cook.
"While many of my freshmen colleagues will vote for Mr. Cook due to this pressure, many have privately shared that they believe Representative Burrows is the better and more conservative choice but feel intimidated by threats of well-funded primary challengers," Fairly added.
But Fairly attempted to apply some pressure of her own on Smithee, who's represented Amarillo in the House for 40 years.
"Finally, if Representative Smithee joins me in this vote, having a speaker from the Panhandle (Lubbock), with support from Representative Smithee, King, Tepper, and myself, will give the panhandle a level of influence we have never experienced before," Fairly said as the closing line in the defection note.
The freshman lawmaker's father - Alex Fairly - had announced in December that a group that he controls would bankroll primary challengers against incumbent Republicans who vote for Burrows like his daughter ended up doing today. The elder Fairly cancelled the threat during the weekend.
Fairly the new legislator defeated three GOP foes in the 2024 primary election with 60 percent of the vote.
