Club for Growth Targets Texas Speaker
after Announcing Pact with Greg Abbott
Capitol Inside April 3, 2024
Dade Phelan Agrees to Debate
OT Foe He Calls Ducking David
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan revealed on Wednesday night that he'd accepted an invitation to debate primary runoff foe David Covey in a live broadcast from Beaumont on May 7 in a hometown re-election race.
Phelan said the debate would be staged by the Fox affiliate KFDM. But the speaker accused Covey of trying to dodge the proposed debate even though the challenger said he'd received no formal invite from the sponsors himself.
"Dade Phelan has refused to debate since the inception of this campaign, avoiding every public forum during the primary, Covey said tonight in a post on X. "Now the Speaker’s failing campaign believes they can pacify voters with a debate that is closed to the public. Until Monday, we had not received a formal invitation from a neutral third party. As this date has just been put on our radar, we are reviewing our schedule and the terms to ensure it is open to the public."
Phelan fired back with a mocking rebuttal complete with a new moniker that he pinned on the challenger.
"David Covey has more than demonstrated his willingness to blindly parrot any script handed to him by his West Texas billionaire backers, but the constituents of House District 21 demand and deserve much more than his rehearsed rhetoric," Phelan said in a statement.
The speaker removed the kid gloves that he'd employed with a frontrunner persona that appeared to be unjustified.
"Ducking David is refusing to engage in a neutral and public forum, to face me directly, or to present even a single, solitary idea to the people he claims to want to serve, which speaks volumes," Phelan added. "What is Ducking David hiding?"
Conservatives have referred to Phelan constantly on social media as "Drunk Dade" based on unsubstantiated claims about being inebriated on the dais while the House was in session last year.
Governor Greg Abbott's all-time biggest individual donor is bankrolling a campaign by out-of-state interests to oust Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan in a primary runoff election in a district where the state's top leader has pretended to be neutral in terms of his public stance.
Abbott has emerged as Phelan's most dangerous enemy in the hometown re-election race after teaming up with the Club for Growth two weeks ago in an announcement on a plan to raise $10 million to spend against Phelan allies in overtime as payback for votes to kill school choice last fall. The partnership with Abbott also includes the AFC Victory Fund.
Club for Growth reported late last week that it's poured $4 million into the House runoffs in Texas in attempt to defeat four House Republicans who Abbott has targeted and the speaker who did not vote on the governor's prized vouchers bill in a special session in November. The group said it had allocated nearly $900,000 for the House District 21 race that pits challenger David Covey against Phelan in OT.
The Club for Growth Action PAC released a new television advertisement on Tuesday that takes aim at the Texas speaker with claims that he's an "unwaveringly liberal Democrat in disguise" and should be voted out of office as a consequence.
"Bruised and bitter after being denied re-election, Dade's doubling down on his liberal record," the ad asserts. The commercial based that on Phelan's refusal to bow to outside pressure on the appointment of Democrats to committee chairs and other leadership positions in the Capitol's west wing.
After spending $4 million before the primary election on Texas House contests, Club for Growth Action is taking credit for victories that challengers recorded in bids to unseat seven Republican representatives who opposed vouchers. The group that's based in Washington D.C. is targeting GOP State Reps. DeWayne Burns of Cleburne, Justin Holland of Rockwall, John Kuempel of Seguin, Gary VanDeaver of New Boston and Phelan in round two.
The Club for Growth statement on the runoff activity in Texas declined to mention the association with Abbott that it had a touted a week earlier in the runoff targeting offensive. But the Texas governor shares the same top contributor with Philadelphia investor Jeff Yass.
Yass donated $6 million to Abbott for the school choice revenge crusade here in round one. Yass has contributed $54 million or more since 2021 to the Club for Growth Action PAC and sister organizations called the School Freedom Fund and the American Federation for Children Victory Fund.
Yass is the lead investor in TikTok - the app that Abbott banned for use in state government before the two became so close. Abbott suspects that his largest donor's company has been spying on Americans for communists in China.
more to come ...
Dade Phelan has refused to debate since the inception of this campaign, avoiding every public forum during the primary. Now the Speaker’s failing campaign believes they can pacify voters with a debate that is closed to the public. Until Monday, we had not received a formal… https://t.co/UzrOWGA8Ws
