David Covey forces runoff with Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who led AG Ken Paxton's impeachment

Table Of Content

• h Texas Legislature convened on Jan. 10, will run 140 days until May 29.
• Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan heading to runoff against hardline conservative challenger
• When a Defendant Gets Lost in Translation
• Money flows into Texas House GOP primary battles this season
• Former Texas House speaker says GOP megadonor Tim Dunn told him only Christians should hold leadership positions

Lawmakers are expected to tackle education issues in a special session starting Oct. 9. Still, Phelan faces some skepticism as the January start of the legislative session approaches. House members are facing a pandemic, massive budget shortfalls and fractured relationships after a particularly polarizing election cycle and the scandal that led to Bonnen’s downfall.

h Texas Legislature convened on Jan. 10, will run 140 days until May 29.

The work is necessary, and, because we have the privilege of doing it for the people of Texas, I know we will get it done together. Before more Texas families get that heartbreaking call, we must stop the cartels in their tracks. Our names may be on the office door, but the men and women who serve in our capitol and district offices are the ones who do the heavy lifting. With rapid inflation, let us also retain them by finally increasing their salaries. I want to thank the families of Uvalde for inviting me to meet with them just last week. Having heard from them directly -- and taking into account the findings of our investigative committee -- we have insights to inform our decisions.

David Covey: Meet the GOP activist taking on Dade Phelan - Houston Chronicle

David Covey: Meet the GOP activist taking on Dade Phelan.

Posted: Fri, 05 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan heading to runoff against hardline conservative challenger

When Paxton won acquittal in the Senate, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who had just presided over the trial as judge, dropped his veil of impartiality to launch an attack into the House. It was just his latest spat with Phelan, after the two spent weeks in a stalemate over which chambers’ version of a property tax relief bill to pass. In a new advertisement released Thursday, Covey, an oil and gas consultant and former Orange County GOP chairman, is continuing his line of attack against Phelan, challenging both the speaker's conservative bona fides and his border security credentials in accosting him for avoiding a debate. Phil King, a longtime Republican state representative from Weatherford, replaced her as the senator for District 10 in North Texas. Not only had Paxton and Patrick publicly called on Phelan to resign last year, but the speaker also earned the ire of Gov. Greg Abbott when the House sunk the governor’s school voucher proposal. Abbott did not endorse anyone in this race, appearing indifferent to Phelan’s political survival.

When a Defendant Gets Lost in Translation

The legislation, which critics said would empower “vigilantes” and endanger the lives of asylum seekers and Hispanic Texans, died when Democrats killed it with a procedural tactic. And despite Republicans’ best efforts to revive a version of the measure, it never made it to Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk before the regular session ended. Early in the 2023 legislative session, Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan vowed to present “a very innovative solution” to combat the surge in migrants attempting to enter Texas from Mexico — one that would test the limits of states’ roles in immigration enforcement.

Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives

He is replaced by Kevin Sparks, who aligns with Patrick on social issues and who the lieutenant governor endorsed. Those changes mean Republicans have increased their majority in the chamber by one, with 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats to start Tuesday’s session. Representative Dade Phelan (Beaumont) is the 76th Speaker of the Texas House and is currently serving his fourth term as State Representative for District 21. Prior to serving as Speaker, he served as Chair of the House Committee on State Affairs, as Vice-Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, as a member of the Calendars, Appropriations, and Elections Committees as well as the Select Committee on Ports, Innovation and Infrastructure.

Pressure mounts on House Speaker Dade Phelan to resign as third special session looms

Supreme Court’s decision last summer to do away with the constitutional protection for abortion, allowing a ban to go into effect in Texas. But the real trouble came when the House voted to impeach Paxton, a fellow Republican, on charges of corruption and bribery. Phelan registered his support for impeachment, even though the speaker rarely casts votes unless they feel strongly on an issue. House Republicans who blocked McCarthy’s leadership for more than a dozen votes, grinding Congressional business to a halt for four days last week. Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan is facing a runoff election after he failed to secure a majority of votes in primary voting, the clearest sign to date of his precarious position within the Republican Party.

He said he would keep abreast of constituents’ priorities by holding regular town hall meetings unlike Phelan, whom he said residents complain is inaccessible. District 21 hugs a corner of southeast Texas along the Louisiana border; it’s closer to Baton Rouge than Austin. Modern refineries line the Neches River near the Spindletop oil field, the site of the 1901 gusher that began the Texas oil boom. From there the district swings east to the shipyards and port in Orange, and then north, where Highway 96 slashes through the pine forests of rural Jasper County. “Dade has lost his way, and is more beholden to the Democrats who elected him speaker than the people who elect him to fight for them,” said Paxton in an ad he cut for Covey.

David Covey forces runoff with Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who led AG Ken Paxton's impeachment - The Associated Press

David Covey forces runoff with Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who led AG Ken Paxton's impeachment.

Posted: Tue, 05 Mar 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

"David Covey’s habit of telling lies, and repeated attempts at gaslighting Southeast Texans into believing them, are all qualities that make him the best candidate for the position of a snake oil salesman — not State Representative for House District 21," Wittman said. In a speech to the Senate, Abbott expressed unprecedented anticipation for the session to begin, saying lawmakers had a “once in a generation” opportunity to chart the course for the state because of its budget surplus. Patrick has warned that he would push the Legislature into a special session if additional work on the grid is not accomplished by the regular session’s end on May 29. In the Senate, Patrick, who won reelection in November for another four-year term, welcomed senators back to the chamber cheerily.

In a lengthy news conference, he questioned the speaker’s leadership, saying Phelan should not be in power and was not fit to be in the Republican Party. House speakers rarely vote on legislation, and they control whether a bill can reach the floor — meaning SB 4 could not have passed without the green light from Phelan. DALLAS — Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan said this week he's extremely confident that he'll not only win his primary runoff, but that he will remain Speaker during the new legislative session beginning in January. In an email to supporters the week after the election, Texas GOP Chair Allen West wrote that the state party "will not support, nor accept" Phelan as the next speaker and called the lawmaker a “Republican political traitor” for gaining the gavel with the support of Democrats. A number of House Republicans defended Phelan, asking West to “stop the childish name-calling” and saying he “needs to go back to” Florida.

Phelan returned to Austin in 2001 and went to work for Williams, a legislative veteran who’s now chairing Phelan’s transition team. Last week, I read a story about the local county hospital joining the 60% of rural Texas hospitals that no longer deliver babies. We should not leave this session without a firm commitment to reversing this trend. Because in my dictionary, the definition of "pro-life" includes ensuring access to affordable healthcare for all, especially Texas mothers and their babies. Like you, I heard some very straightforward concerns from the families in my district. I have heard about the economy, inflation and the difficulty in making ends meet.

Texans want a reliable supply of water, resiliency from flooding, dependable energy and high-speed internet across this great state. With a once in a lifetime budget surplus, now is the time to put a down payment on the future of Texas. All of that work will be rooted in one of the most fundamental, necessary elements of this institution -- the Texas House rules. My advice to new members is to know them, love them, and be certain we will enforce them. Let us not forget the sacrifices they have made to get you where you are today.

Torres said the dynamic between Republican political leaders could prove critical in the special session, where lawmakers are expected to take up the issue of education savings accounts, or a school voucher plan. Often called school choice by supporters, these bills passed the Senate but not the House during the regular session. After the previous speaker imploded in scandal, Phelan ascended to the House’s top post in 2021 propelled by a reputation among Republicans and Democrats alike that he was an honest broker. In the first session he presided over, he and his leadership team shepherded the passage of conservative priorities that had previously been viewed as a bridge too far for many Republicans, including a near-total ban on abortion and permitless carry of handguns. Abbott touted it as the most conservative legislative session in recent memory. The contract has so far not attained anything close to majority support in the Republican caucus—particularly as only two signees are locks to be elected, having cleared primaries and facing no Democratic or third-party opponents in November.

Over five terms, he has never once drawn a reelection opponent, ascending to become the first House speaker from Beaumont, leading the lower chamber as it drifted further to the right. AUSTIN, Texas — The Republican Party of Texas (GOP) has officially censured Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan over what it called a "lack of fidelity to Republican principles and priorities." "I'm going to call next week for a full audit of all taxpayer money spent by the House from the beginning of their investigation in March to the final bills they get from their lawyers," said Patrick in a speech from the dais after the acquittal.