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GOP Speaker and Six Allies Condemn
Rule 44 Threats as SREC Weighs Fate
Capitol Inside
October 8, 2025
GOP Speaker Dustin Burrows and a half-dozen lieutenants contended during the weekend that an attempt to block them from the Republican primary ballot in March is an illegal scheme designed to circumvent voters who've elected them to the Texas House in multiple election cycles.
The Lubbock lawmaker who leads the House and his colleagues voiced vociferous objections to the potential action in a letter to Texas GOP Chair Abraham George and the state party's governing board that will decide at a meeting on Saturday how the targeted lawmakers should be punished for local party censure votes in recent months.
"The censure resolutions and their accompanying threats to exclude incumbent lawmakers from the Republican primary ballot are not grounded in legitimate party governance or discipline," the seven House members contended in the communique to George and the members of the State Republican Executive Committee. "They are instead political weapons wielded by rivals seeking to eliminate the competition through procedural manipulation rather than democratic debate."
The group of legislators who penned the letter included State Reps. Angie Chen Button of Garland, Cody Harris of Palestine, Jeff Leach of Allen, Morgan Meyer of Dallas, Angelina Orr of Itasca and Gary VanDeaver of New Boston.
Two of the House Republicans who face possible punishment from the SREC - former Speaker Dade Phelan of Beaumont and State Rep. Stan Lambert of Abilene - do not appear on the letter from Burrows and his allies on the use of the state party platform's Rule 44 to run lawmakers out of office before voters have a chance to send them back to Austin for new terms.
State Rep. Jared Patterson of Lewisville did not sign the letter to state party bosses for reasons unknown at this point. Patterson, who's seeking re-election in 2026, has been a key player on the speaker's team on a number of fronts including his role as the Local & Consent Calendars Committee.
The Republican lawmakers noted in the two-page appeal to activists that all had been endorsed for re-election by President Donald Trump - "with few exceptions" - as a result of votes they cast in regular session for a school vouchers bill. VanDeaver, Lambert and Phelan are the exceptions after opposing the school choice measure that was Governor Greg Abbott's number one priority this year.
All of the House Republicans on trial before the SREC for alleged rules infractions were cited in local censure resolutions for failing to support State Rep. David Cook of Mansfield in the speaker's election in January as the GOP Caucus nominee. Cook was unable to parlay the caucus anointment into a victory in the leadership fight on the floor without a significant measure of support from Democrats he'd done little or nothing to court.
The lawmakers in question were accused of Rules 44 violations as a result of votes in the regular session's first week for the operating rules that the House adopted in a slam-dunk fashion with minimal debate and no real opportunity for amendments. Each of the seven legislators whose find their fates in the hands of activists were cited for alleged infractions based on votes they cast on individual pieces of legislation as well.
The speaker and targeted allies asserted in the letter that the use of Rule 44 to keep incumbents off the ballot would be a blatant violation of their rights to "political association, ballot access and freedom of speech" under the state and national constitutions.
"This proposed action is not only unjust and politically motivated -- it is unconstitutional, prohibited by Texas law, and corrosive to the republican principles upon which rest the foundation of our party, the great state of Texas, and the United States of America," the House members argued.
"The Republican Party of Texas must be a vehicle for voter empowerment -- not disenfranchisement of its own members. It must champion free speech, open debate, and Democratic competition, not exclusionary tactics and insider control."
more to come ...
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