By David Erinakes
AUSTIN, Texas (Texas Insider Report) — Well, with Early Voting starting next week, and an election year upon us, it will soon be the season for the shifting winds and formations of fleeting alliances to determine who will be Texas House Speaker in 2027. And because the Speaker is elected by those elected to be members of the House, that means the Texas GOP’s leadership (read the State Republican Executive Committee in Texas,) has already tried to influence the Speaker's Race by bullying some great candidates and incumbents not to run, threatening to banish them in the party's primary.
Of course the State Republican Executive Committee in Texas is going after first-term House Speaker Dustin Burrows of Lubbock (right,) but also some of his leadership team, including Reps. Angie Chen Button of Garland, Cody Harris of Palestine, Jeff Leach of Allen, Morgan Meyer of University Park, Candy Noble of Murphy, Angelia Orr of Itasca, Cecil Bell of Magnolia, and Jared Patterson of Frisco.
Some of these members have been endorsed by President Trump, and face opponents who've sided with many of George Soros’ policy positions.
These challenges had nothing to do with voter anger tied to most of the party. If it did, they would be defeated in the primary.
Instead it has been a failure (at best,) by a small minority of Republicans and their power-hungry consultants who think that any Representative who doesn’t do exactly as instructed by the party – or won’t vote exactly the way they want them to on the Speaker's Race – must in fact be evil and unworthy of representing them in the so-called "Purity Test" of the moment.
I hate to be the skunk at the Garden Party for them here, but, at this point in Texas History – coming off of what Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and virtually every political analyst in the state says was one of the most conservative and successful Legislative Sessions in history – it’s not always about making an A on the "purity test."
In fact, we don’t want or need you "purity test."
Support for Republican values is about representing your district and achieving enough seniority and influence to pass the legislation a Representative's district wants and needs. Those legislative needs often involve tweaks in the water or infrastructure needs of each district, or changes in the laws that make your constituent's daily living a little bit better – and a whole lot safer.
To be blunt, certain members of the Texas Republican Executive Committee leadership need to remember that State Representatives, and State Senators, owe their loyalty to their district's – not to a party being funded by a few big donors from elsewhere in the state who have their own agendas, no matter how well meaning.
We don’t need to die on that hill, or think if we lose the majority we can fundraise around the failures.
This is never been truer than in the Texas House Speaker's race.
Have you noticed that for the last couple of decades, the Speakers elected are never the ones that state "party leadership" or financial big whigs want? That's because the Democrats can count to 76 – the number out of 150 House Members needed to be elected Speaker. Texas Democrats, who have a bit of an out-sized role in the Speaker's reace, will always vote for the least conservative speaker candidate possible.
Why, you ask, does that even matter when Republicans have the majority?
It is because the Republicans may have the majority, but they don’t have enough Republicans on the very far right who would rather vote their party's own doom, than be a bit practical.
If I may offer a suggestion, why don’t Republicans look at the solid conservative members, those who know how to get things done in the House, and accept that that often means at least talking to, or negotiating with Democrats – not to get their liberal priorities passed, but to allow ideas to be debated? Debate never hurt anyone, and it is very much a Charlie Kirk mantra that makes complete sense. In fact sometime there's a bit of good that come out of that process.
We can win with that philosophy, which is a whole Republican philosophy, not just the one that reflects the threat of "censure" – a threat that's increasingly being used against Republicans in their own party based upon "purity" issues.
So, with that being said, what kind of Representative might fit that mold – who would be practical enough to work on the State GOP priorities with success and knows how the the processes work in the Capitol Building – and reflects dead center conservative Republican values?
I would offer someone like Representative Cecil Bell. I chose him because he has seniority, is well liked on both sides of the isle, and knows how to get things done. Purity test people don’t appreciate him much. and have pushed against him by running a flawed purity test candidate against him in the Republican Primary – a classic example of a party eating its own. (I thought only Democrats did that?)
Some of Rep. Bell’s background include: being endorsed by President Trump, leading on the Texas Sovereignty Act, pushing for Surplus Funds be dedicated to Property Tax Relief, supporting and leading on 2nd Amendment issues, and long being held a conservative champion receiving the Conservative Christian Award for carrying Defense of Marriage and Preservation of State Sovereignty bill (Hotze’s eagle.) He's also a really good Committee Chairman, not letting crazy left-wing bills out of the committee he chairs while giving Democrats a chance to embarrass themselves.
I think almost all Texas Republicans would vote for that record – Chairman Bell is the kind of guy that you put in office, don’t have to worry about how he votes or what he does because he'll get done what we expect him to get done without running to the mic for a sound bite every 10 seconds. After all, don’t representatives all run on their records?
Censor by the "purity test" people have had little to no meaning within the Capitol, based upon recent performance and the passage of so much conservative legislation that Texas is the envy of the nation in that regard, and have no respect for long term voting records. They are the product of a donkey, not a Longhorn…
I know others may want to – for selfish, ulterior motive and/or political reasons – and are pushing their own candidates for the Speaker's Chair, but how about trying something different and being amazed at the results we've had?
David Erinakes is a Senior Legislative Reporter and consultant who formerly worked in the Texas Legislature.
