Why a third GOP candidate in speaker’s race?

AUSTIN – The Austin American-Statesman reports that after a Republican Texas House member said a new GOP candidate for speaker is needed to break what he called a stalemate, neither lawmaker currently seeking to lead the lower chamber when the Legislature convenes next month gave any indication that he plans to drop out of the race. State Rep. Gary Gates of Fort Bend County on Friday sent a “dear colleagues” letter to members of the House Republican Caucus decrying the intraparty “bullying tactics” that have arisen amid the race for speaker between Reps. David Cook of Mansfield and Dustin Burrows of Lubbock. Cook has emerged as the choice of 57 of the 88 members of the House Republican Caucus but remains short of the 76 votes needed to secure a majority to become speaker. Burrows, meanwhile, is working to create a bipartisan coalition to push him to a majority. Both camps, along with third parties, have pushed the traditionally members-only speaker’s race into the public sphere. The Texas Republican Party, which advocates electing a speaker on the strength of GOP members alone, released a campaign-style video accusing Burrows of seeking to “cut a deal with the Democrats” to secure the post.

Burrows, a top lieutenant to outgoing Speaker Dade Phelan during the two terms the Beaumont Republican ran the chamber, is contrasting his 10-year service in the House, which includes chairing two major committees, with Cook’s comparatively brief four-year tenure. Cook emerged as a serious candidate for speaker in September when several Republican members assembled privately to discuss selecting an alternative to Phelan, who came under GOP fire for continuing the House tradition of awarding some committee chairmanships to the minority party. Cook walked away from that gathering with 48 committed votes for speaker. Phelan has since dropped a bid for a third term at the helm, and Burrows inherited some the speaker’s core supporters. After a Dec. 7 GOP caucus meeting, Cook’s support increased by nine members, but Burrows claimed he had locked down the magic number of 76 votes. That proved premature, and the GOP infighting continued. In his letter, Gates warned that reuniting the caucus could be problematic without a new face in the race. “Since our Caucus meeting, outside interest groups have been attacking the 31 Republican colleagues who are not supporting the Cook candidacy,” wrote Gates, a House member since 2020. This “has been detrimental for Cook to gain additional support from some of these Republicans, and now requires him to reach out to Democrats to get to the 76 needed votes.”