RPT to House Republicans: Commit to Selecting Speaker in Caucus

On Tuesday, Republican Party of Texas Chairman James Dickey publicly called for every Republican member of the Texas House to commit to supporting the choice of the Republican Caucus as the Speaker of the Texas House.

“It’s important that Republican House Members pick the next Speaker of the Texas House. Every Republican candidate for the Texas House will be asked to commit to supporting the choice of the Republican Caucus,” said Dickey.

Dickey’s press release includes not only his statement, but also a letter outlining the Republican Party Platform’s support for the issue and why legislators should support it. And it isn’t just addressed to Republican members of the Texas House, it’s also addressed to the Texas Republicans who vote for those members.

“Make sure the candidate you support has filed their commitment to the Republican Party of Texas!” says Dickey. “Texas House Republicans should stand unified and united in their selection of the next speaker, whoever that may be.”

Though efforts to amend the House Republican Caucus’ bylaws to select a Speaker nominee began with a Texas Freedom Caucus letter back in August, they’ve been steadily progressing ever since. And just last week, the House Republican Caucus’ workgroup released their proposal and recommendation that the process be adopted.

If the caucus were to adopt the procedures outlined in the report, Republican members of the Texas House would meet internally to select their nominee for House Speaker and require a lawmaker to obtain majority support within the caucus.

Such a change should prevent liberal Republicans from forging alliances with Democrats in order to gain the Speaker’s gavel—the tactic that Straus used in order to unseat Republican Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland.

House Republican Caucus Chairman Tan Parker (Flower Mound) has already announced that the next meeting of the caucus will be held on December 1.

Cary Cheshire

Cary Cheshire is the executive director of Texans for Strong Borders, a no-compromise non-profit dedicated to restoring security and sovereignty to the citizens of the Lone Star State. For more information visit StrongBorders.org.