Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan won renomination in a runoff election on Tuesday, surviving a fierce Republican primary bid by a party activist and first-time candidate backed by former President Donald J. Trump and his Texas supporters.
The race in a southeast Texas district that includes part of the city of Beaumont was a bitter political showdown between some of the most powerful players in Texas politics and was likely one of the most expensive ever for a seat in the Texas House of Representatives.
Millions poured into the campaigns during the primary, including major donations from West Texas oil and gas billionaires and out-of-state school choice advocates who supported challenger David Covey. For his part, Mr. Phelan had help from wealthy donors like Miriam Adelson, the Las Vegas casino magnate and widow of Republican megadonor Sheldon Adelson.
Mr. Covey, a technical consultant to the oil and gas industry who describes himself as a “very committed Christian and conservative,” led Mr. Phelan in the first round of voting in March, when neither candidate won a majority.
But during the runoff, Mr. Phelan rallied his supporters and campaign donors and significantly outperformed his opponent by mid-May.
“We were so close,” Mr. Covey said in a speech to supporters in Orange, Texas. He added that despite his defeat, his campaign had sparked a movement.
As Mr. Phelan announced victory in Beaumont on Tuesday night, he told a packed room full of campaign workers, supporters and several members of the Texas House of Representatives that the campaign against him had been based on “lies” and “deception.”
“We’re done with that,” said Mr. Phelan. “House District 21 is not for sale.”
The narrow decision for Mr. Phelan, who has not faced a party challenger in a decade, is likely to resonate in Republican politics. His campaign raised more than $12.6 million to defend him.
Many activist Republicans in Texas consider Mr. Phelan not conservative enough. Their main complaints were: He supported the Texas House’s longstanding practice of giving some committee chairs to the opposing party.
Mr. Phelan’s ouster has become the biggest target of a far-right faction of the Republican Party that includes Attorney General Ken Paxton and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. That faction, allied with Mr. Trump, has sought to reshape the Texas House, a moderating force in state politics, after the model of the more staunchly conservative Texas Senate.
Mr. Phelan’s defense became the target of many members of the party’s old guard, including a former governor, Rick Perry, who campaigned on Mr. Phelan’s behalf and appeared with him several times during the primary.
The aggressive focus on Mr. Phelan came after the Texas House of Representatives voted last year to impeach Mr. Paxton on charges of corruption and abuse of power. (Mr. Paxton was acquitted in a Senate trial that Mr. Patrick presided over.)
And it followed a session in which a small number of rural Republicans in the Texas House again blocked proposals for state-funded vouchers that would allow families to send children to private schools.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who has campaigned against members of the Texas House of Representatives who opposed the voucher proposals, remained on the sidelines in Mr. Phelan’s primary vote.
Although it is very likely that Mr. Phelan will be re-elected to his heavily Republican seat in November, it is not guaranteed that he will serve another legislative session as speaker. Some Republican representatives have already been suggested as possible successors, setting the stage for a renewed fight for control of the Texas House of Representatives.
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2024-05-30 01:36:45
www.nytimes.com
