Wake-Up Call for Texas House
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN, Texas – "There were nine retirements, and 36 GOP incumbent races with competitive challengers. Nine incumbents lost outright, and eight are headed to high-risk runoffs. The Texas House's Republican Caucus will look vastly different when they reconvene for the 89th Legislative Session," said Lt. Governor and Republican candidate for re-election, Dan Patrick, after looking at the results from Tuesday's "Super Tuesday" Texas Republican Primary.
“The expiration date on Dade Phelan’s Speakership is plainly written on the bottle. Last night was a referendum on his leadership and Republican voters, the conservative majority, spoke with great clarity.
“Dade Phelan failed in his role as Speaker. He led his members to take bad votes on the House Floor – which cost them dearly at home. The cardinal rule for a Speaker is, to protect his members," said the Lt. Governor.
“Dade Phelan’s even greater failure was ignoring the policy goals of the conservative majority of voters in Texas. From border security and tax relief to election integrity, criminal justice, and school choice, Phelan abandoned the GOP majority and answered the call of his Democrat Chairs and the rest of the Minority Party Members.
“Astonishingly, next session, up to one third of the Republican Caucus will be new members.
"These new candidates were elected as a result of the failed leadership of Dade Phelan – and will not likely repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. His special interest money couldn’t save his incumbents, nor could it save him," said Patrick.
"He campaigned in his district as a conservative, but his track record in Austin couldn’t back it up. He railed against ‘outsiders’ trying to steal the race from the people of Southeast Texas – all the while importing special interest lobby money into the district to hold onto his seat.
"The message was delivered by the voters – it’s not ‘his’ seat. It belongs to the people.
"It was a great night for the conservative majority in Texas,” said Patrick.
“Dade Phelan failed in his role as Speaker. He led his members to take bad votes on the House Floor – which cost them dearly at home. The cardinal rule for a Speaker is, to protect his members," said the Lt. Governor.
“Dade Phelan’s even greater failure was ignoring the policy goals of the conservative majority of voters in Texas. From border security and tax relief to election integrity, criminal justice, and school choice, Phelan abandoned the GOP majority and answered the call of his Democrat Chairs and the rest of the Minority Party Members.“Astonishingly, next session, up to one third of the Republican Caucus will be new members.
"These new candidates were elected as a result of the failed leadership of Dade Phelan – and will not likely repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. His special interest money couldn’t save his incumbents, nor could it save him," said Patrick.
"He campaigned in his district as a conservative, but his track record in Austin couldn’t back it up. He railed against ‘outsiders’ trying to steal the race from the people of Southeast Texas – all the while importing special interest lobby money into the district to hold onto his seat.
"The message was delivered by the voters – it’s not ‘his’ seat. It belongs to the people.
"It was a great night for the conservative majority in Texas,” said Patrick.
More information about Texans for Dan Patrick is available at www.DanPatrick.org.
