A point of comparison with the same position on the national level.
From the Texas Tribune: Texas House selects Rep. Dade Phelan as speaker for another legislative session.
Texas House of Representatives members on Tuesday voted 145-3 to elect state Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, to a second term as speaker — the most powerful position in the lower chamber.
He defeated state Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, who was nominated by ultraconservative members who say Phelan is unreasonably accommodating of Democrats in the chamber. Tinderholt cast a ballot for himself, as did two Republican members who nominated him, Nate Schatzline of Tarrant County and Bryan Slaton of Royce City.
Phelan said he would shepherd bills through the chamber that have the support of a majority of members while also ensuring that lawmakers from the minority party would have a meaningful voice.
He said it is important to preserve this Texas House tradition.“Our rules keep the game fair, but they do not dictate the outcome,” Phelan said. “We will have divisions — every session does — but that division does not have to define us.”
He earned the support of every Democrat in the House, including Toni Rose of Dallas, who praised Phelan for supporting her bill in 2021 to expand Medicaid coverage for new mothers. Tracy King, a Uvalde Democrat, commended Phelan for meeting last week with families of victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting this past May.
“They agreed on some things and they disagreed on some other things,” King said. “But throughout the entire meeting he was honest with them. He was upfront, answered those questions boldly, and it was impressive. … Those are the qualities I find very, very admirable.”
Houston Chronicle: Opinion: Why the House speaker chaos over Kevin McCarthy won't happen in the Texas Legislature.
Kevin McCarthy likely isn’t sleeping too well these days, what with his fellow Republicans in the Freedom Caucus tanking his repeated attempts to become speaker of the U.S. House. It’s been 100 years since the speaker was not elected on a first vote, and as of this writing, McCarthy had racked up four failed votes, and counting.
Meanwhile, down in Texas, Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan, also under fire from Freedom Caucus ideologues, is probably sleeping like a baby.
Why?
Because Phelan has something McCarthy doesn’t have, and considering the hopelessly tribalist partisan politics of Washington D.C. these days, could probably never have: Democratic support.
McCarthy, R-California, and Phelan, R-Beaumont, both began the holiday season with a strong mandate within their respective Republican caucuses and the certainty their party would have a legislative majority in January.
That’s where the similarities end. Phelan knows his re-election as speaker of the Texas House on January 10 is a lock while McCarthy flails embarrassingly because, at least for the time being, the Texas House is still not like the U.S. House in several important ways.
What some have seen as a Phelan weakness (potentially relying on Democratic votes to be elected speaker), may actually be a strength, since it has allowed Phelan and the Texas House Republican Caucus to avoid the predicament McCarthy and the U.S. House Republican Conference find themselves in today.
Who is Dade Phelan?
- Texas Tribune: Texas Rep. Dade Phelan.
