The consequences of the recent election reverberate.
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The Texas House is in the middle of a reboot — a change in leadership and the general mix of things that only takes place about once a decade.
House Speaker Joe Straus is leaving. State Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, has collected enough promises from members of the House to succeed Straus in January, when the actual vote takes place.
You can see people changing positions, rearranging their political stances for a fresh start.
After a narrow election victory, the noisiest conservative in the Texas House, Jonathan Stickland of Bedford, is telling his local journalists it’s time to for him to use more honey and less vinegar.
Jeff Leach of Plano, another member of the House’s Freedom Caucus — a group that had been playing loyal opposition to Straus within the GOP — quit the caucus in a public letter saying now would be a good time to try to work with all the Republicans.
It’s probably unrelated, but interesting, that outside of the Texas Capitol, Republican leaders are trying to stop the local branch in Tarrant County from ousting its vice chairman because he is Muslim. And you’ve got a lot of Texas conservatives scratching their heads after a general election that saw a scary drop in their traditional suburban voting power — including in Tarrant County.
Maybe it’s just the mood of a funeral week that has seen an outpouring of fond remembrance for former President George H.W. Bush, viewed in the polarity of current times as a model for comity in politics — even between friends and enemies.
What’s happening in the House, though, is both real and predictable.
