Texas GOP tells members to unite in House Speaker race

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Texas House Republicans remain split on who to support in the Speaker of the House race one week after Speaker Dade Phelan removed himself from contention and was replaced by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock.

Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, was able to secure enough votes to earn the Republican House Caucus nomination this past weekend, even after Burrows and more than 20 other House members walked out of the vote. That same day, Burrows declared victory in the race saying he had enough bipartisan support to get the 76 votes needed to win the Speaker race.

"Those 26 members that chose to leave, please know that you have my commitment that I want to continue working with you day and night between today and Jan. 14," Cook said to a room of reporters following the Saturday vote.

The Republican House Caucus rules state any member who is able to win the nomination will receive support from all 88 members, but it appears Cook does not have the full support just yet.

Gov. Greg Abbott took to X this week to voice his opinion about the race, saying, "I worked this entire year to elect conservative candidates who will pass conservative laws, including school choice. To achieve that goal we need a Texas House Speaker chosen by a majority of Republicans in accordance with the Republican Caucus Rules."

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick echoed the governor's remarks in his own statement on X, saying it was time for 76 House Republican members to support the GOP Caucus nominee, David Cook.

The Chairman of the Texas Republican Party, Abraham George, said it is time for Burrows to remove himself from the race and support Cook for Speaker. George said any members who go against the GOP nominee could possibly face a censure from the party.

"If you end up having multiple censures on your record, the Party has the right to tell you, 'you cannot run as a Republican in the next cycle,'" George explained. If an elected Republican official is censured by a county or district committee of the party, the State Republican Executive Committee has the right to penalize that member, according to Rule 44 of the Texas GOP Rules.

One of the penalties would direct the state chairman to "refuse to accept any application for a place on the ballot of a Republican Primary Election for a period of 24 months." George said now is not the time for handing out censures, but he expects the members to fall in line in supporting Cook.

The split in the Republican party has given the minority party in the House the chance for some influence. The House Democratic Caucus is not supporting a candidate currently, but the chair of the HDC said it is not supporting the GOP nominee.

"We will absolutely not vote for David Cook because he is offering Texans nothing," Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, said.

Wu said Democratic members are looking for a candidate that will focus on tackling issues that are impacting Texans. "All that stuff that is just there to generate hate, keep that to yourself. Tell us about wages. Tell us about housing. Tell us about medical costs," Wu said.