With the General Election in the rearview mirror, the next election on lawmakers’ minds in the Texas Capitol is for the next Speaker of the House.
The official vote for Speaker of the House will occur on the first day of the legislative session, January 14. But the decision may be made long before that as part of the Republican Caucus’ nominating process.
The process for Republican legislators to nominate a unified speaker candidate ahead of the official vote at the start of the session in January was adopted in 2017 in an attempt to prevent Republican speaker candidates, like then-Speaker Joe Straus, from courting Democrat support for the position.
In the years since, however, both former Speaker Dennis Bonnen and the current Speaker Dade Phelan have released lists containing Democrat supporters ahead of the caucus vote, making the exercise a formality.
This year has shaped up differently, however. Multiple candidates announced plans to challenge Phelan, largely based on disagreement with his policy of placing Democrats in leadership positions and, more broadly, allowing Democrats to have outsized influence over the Republican legislature.
In September, a group of reform-minded current and incoming Republican members of the Texas House met to consolidate their support around a single challenger. State Rep. David Cook (R–Mansfield) received the endorsement of 48 Republicans—a majority of the Republican caucus, which will have 88 Republicans when they are sworn in.
The caucus vote will take place on December 7 ahead of the session. To clinch the caucus’ nomination, several rounds of voting can take place during a secret ballot. The winner must receive 2/3 support during the first two rounds of voting. If that does not occur, the threshold then drops to 3/5.
If Cook is able to clinch the Republican caucus nomination, the path will be uphill for Speaker Phelan to hold onto his position, as he will need the votes of at least 15 Republicans to defy the caucus, along with Democrats for support. The speaker candidacy of Democrat Ana Maria Ramos, who is expected to get at least a few Democrat votes, makes the math even more difficult for him.
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