Texas Scorecard by Amelia McKenzie | May 20, 2024
David Covey is running against incumbent State Rep. Dade Phelan to represent the southeast Texas district.House District 21 is comprised of Jasper and Orange Counties, and part of Jefferson County. The district is currently represented by House Speaker Dade Phelan.
Phelan (R-Beaumont) will be facing David Covey in the primary runoff election on May 28.
Dade Phelan
Phelan has been in office as state representative since 2014 and was elected as house speaker in 2021. As speaker, Phelan doesn’t receive traditional ratings from legislative groups. However, his ratings from 2019—his last regular session before assuming the speakership—include a 60 from Texas Right to Life, a 49 from Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, and a 59 from Young Conservatives of Texas.
Phelan has recently been under fire for openly promoting Democrat power in the House and benefiting from the contributions of a Democrat official whom the Attorney General attempted to prosecute for campaign finance violations. In the past, Phelan has also been accused of refusing to push school choice.-----
David Covey
Covey is a conservative activist and former chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.
Covey has received endorsements from President Donald Trump, Attorney General Ken Paxton, and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.
Covey’s campaign has received over $400,000 from Texans United for a Conservative Majority PAC. He has also received contributions from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick. He currently has about $100,000 on hand.
The Issues
Over the past several weeks, Texas Scorecard questioned all state legislative runoff candidates on issues important to voters as they head to the polls.
Speaker Phelan did not respond to any of the inquiries.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/local/runoff-preview-covey-squares-off-against-speaker-phelan-for-house-district-21/
