After multiple rounds of voting at a closed-door meeting in Austin, the group of Republican House members opposing Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) have chosen state Rep. David Cook (R-Mansfield) to support.
The unanimous selection occurred after state Rep. John Smithee (R-Amarillo) dropped out of the race when neither candidate could meet the threshold needed head-to-head five hours after the meeting first convened.
The purpose of the meeting was to coalesce behind one candidate rather than splinter the opposition to Phelan between multiple candidates. Not all of the current members or prospective GOP members attended, and a chunk of Phelan supporters said they were not invited to the meeting.
Sources confirmed to that the meeting’s headcount was 48 in-person with six proxies; the meeting was held at a County Line BBQ restaurant in Austin. As the meeting convened, a text went out to the attendees from a newly publicized group called “Texans for a New Speaker.”
The text read, “As one of the [roughly] 50 assembling today to take a historic stand for all of Texas, we applaud your courage and statesmanship. Who you choose today is up to you — our hope is simply that you do it with integrity and that you stand together as you leave.”
“The largest fund ever amassed in Texas politics is in place to support you and your colleagues in the critical work which begins now. See it through today; stay and vote…we have your backs. We aren’t aligned with any faction and won’t engage in past disputes. Our mission is simple: to support reform in the Texas House.”
Neither the Texas Ethics Commission, the secretary of state, nor the Federal Election Commission have any filings under that name.
The process for voting followed the Texas House Republican Caucus procedure: a two-thirds majority vote must be obtained to win throughout most of the process.
After the second ballot, the lowest vote-getter was eliminated; sources told The Texan the first eliminated was state Rep. Shelby Slawson (R-Stephenville).
From there, that elimination process was repeated until two candidates remained. State Rep. James Frank (R-Wichita Falls) was the second eliminated and then state Rep. Tom Oliverson (R-Cypress). The final two were Cook and Smithee.
Smithee obtained 27 votes to Cook’s 21 in the first head-to-head round, but that was short of the line to gain the endorsement.
The voting procedure followed the caucus bylaws, though GOP nominees participated in the voting — something not permitted in the official caucus vote, which is why it’s held after the November general election.
Actual caucus voting to pick an endorsed speaker candidate will occur in December after the election results have all been certified. But this meeting was held Friday, so it comes before the October 3 pre-election caucus retreat.
Phelan released a no-holds-barred statement on the meeting as it convened on Friday, saying, “Today’s gathering is little more than an orchestrated scheme to generate headlines and fuel social media clicks, driving our caucus headlong into unnecessary chaos. A very small handful of self-anointed instigators put on this gathering, refusing to invite the majority of the current Republican caucus, misleading members to get them in the room, and permitting unauthorized proxy voting for those not in attendance in order to artificially inflate their numbers.”
The sitting speaker added, “The organizers of this distraction have completely and deliberately shortcut established caucus rules to generate an outcome benefitting nobody but themselves. Not only are their actions disappointing and unacceptable, they are futile, as I proudly have the clear majority votes needed to be the Speaker today, and will have the clear majority support needed to become Speaker again come January.”
