A local GOP official launched a bid to unseat State Rep. Will Metcalf of Conroe on Monday in a statement that ripped the incumbent for a "blatant betrayal of conservative values" with his support for State Rep. Dustin Burrows for Texas House speaker and a vote to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton last year.
"Representative Metcalf has turned his back on Republicans, his district, and our conservative principles," the new House District 16 contender Jon Bouche said. "After promising to vote for the Republican nominee, Representative Metcalf showed his true colors and betrayed the trust of his constituents, openly siding with Democrats in an effort to elect a liberal speaker."
A real estate agent who serves as the Montgomery Party GOP vice-chair, Bouche cited Metcalf's alignment with Burrows in the ongoing House leadership fight as "the latest in a consistent pattern of betrayal" that included his support for Paxton's impeachment.
But Bouche declined to mention in a campaign kickoff annnouncement that the party caucus nominee for speaker who he supports - State Rep. David Cook of Mansfield - joined Metcalf, Burrows and 57 other House Republicans who backed the three-time attorney general's impeachment in 2023. The activist who's taking aim at Metcalf may not have been aware that Cook and eight of the Republicans who are backing him for speaker as the caucus-approved candidate teamed with all but one of the Democrats in the House with their support for Paxton's impeachment.
Bouche said his priorities as a state lawmaker would be "protecting our children, election integrity, educational freedom, enforcing the Texas border, and property tax reform, among others." Metcalf, a member of the House since 2015, has a consistent record of toeing the party line on the issues that Bouche said he "cares deeply" about.
Metcalf has been among the lower chamber's most influential members for the past four years as the House Administration Committee chairman on Speaker Dade Phelan's leadership team. Metcalf and Phelan are close personal friends since they entered the House together almost 10 years ago.
But Metcalf has a voting record that's substantially more conservative than those Phelan and Burrows have established as House members. Metcalf was ranked in the top 25 - as a prime example - on the Texans for Fiscal Responsibility's conservative scorecard for votes cast in the state House here in 2023. TFR is one of several related groups that are associated with Michael Quinn Sullivan - the most prominent conservative activist in the Lone Star State. Sullivan - like the Texas GOP - is backing Cook for speaker as someone who's been an established Burrows enemy.
Metcalf is one of 17 GOP committee chairs who have pledged to Burrows in his bid to replace Phelan in the dais next year. Burrows has at least 27 current Republican representatives and one incoming GOP member in his corner after a half-dozen or more defections to Cook after he claimed the caucus endorsement earlier this month. Cook didn't have sufficient support for the formal caucus plug when he led Burrows by 6 votes after the first two tallies on a secret ballot in a private meeting in Austin.
But Burrows' supporters cleared the way for Cook to score the party endorsement after leaving the meeting before a third vote could be taken in a move that lowered the threshold for the nomination. Cook ended up with support from 53 percent of the Republicans who'll be House members in the final caucus count.
Burrows or another Republican who only need 14 GOP members in their camp for the speaker's election on January 14 if all of the House's 62 Democrats were united behind them. One or two of the Democrats have indicated they would not back Burrows for speaker.
Conservatives are hoping in the meantime that threats of censureship by the state and local Republican Party organizations around the state will scare GOP members like Metcalf into backing Cook for the gavel instead. But the fearmongering strategy has had little effect up to now with committee chairs who would be sacrificing the positions of power that's defined them in exchange for escaping primary challenges in 2026.
Bouche's entrance into the HD 16 race has removed that potential incentive in Metcalf's case if there'd been any chance that he'd flip to Cook.
