GOP Speaker Phelan Gets Caucus Crowning
with Two-Thirds of No Dem Chair Colleagues
Capitol Inside
December 3, 2022
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan scored the GOP Caucus nomination on Saturday in a bid for a second term a vote that showed that bipartisan leadership is still alive in the hallowed west wing of the state Capitol.
The Beaumont lawmaker who entered the lower chamber in 2015, Phelan received the caucus nod in a vote of 78-6 after refusing to bow in the face of demands from conservatives for the elimination of Democratic committee chairs from the House roster in 2023.
Phelan won support from two-thirds of 18 members who'd joined the Texas GOP this week in an intensified call for a prohibition on the appointment of Democrats to chair standing House panels. One of the conservatives who sought to pressure Phelan on minority party leadership assignments - State Rep. Briscoe Cain - is a key player on the speaker's team as the current Election Committee chairman.
State Rep. Tony Tinderholt of Arlington had been Phelan's only challenger heading into the caucus election. State Rep. Bryan Slaton of Royse City nominated Tinderholt for the speaker role at the caucus meeting.
But Phelan's hold on the gavel had never appeared to be in jeopardy despite push back from the right about his steadfast refusal to roll over on the sharing of power that's long been viewed as the key to efficiency and accomplishment in Austin regardless of the controlling party.
Phelan selected about the same number of Democrats to lead House committees in his debut in 2021 as Republicans Dennis Bonnen, Joe Straus and Tom Craddick had as the three men who served as speaker before him.
Conservatives in the House want to follow Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's lead with the push to ban Democratic committee chairs. But Patrick has had at least one Democrat in a committee chairmanship role throughout an entire eight-year stint as the Texas Senate president. Patrick has appeared to encourage the renegades in the House - saying that he's simply been phasing Democrats out of the leadership lineup. That might not bode well for State Senator John Whitmire of Houston - the last surviving Democrat on the Patrick team in his role as the Criminal Justice Committee's longtime leader.
State Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. of Brownsville chaired the Intergovernmental Relations Committee under Patrick from 2015 to 2021 when the lieutenant governor eliminated it. But Lucio remained Patrick's top Democratic ally despite the snub.
Phelan has appeared to be safe if not a lock for a new term since he ignored pressure and threats from Donald Trump and blocked a vote on an election audit bill that Patrick championed. |
