Texas Scorecard by Brandon Waltens | March 13, 2024
The Austin swamp is working overtime to protect the status quo. If Republican House members are “smart,” they will ignore the loud repudiation of the culture in Austin by voters in Texas and continue to let Democrats run the show. That’s what they are being told by Austin insiders.
And it was the sentiment shared publicly by disgraced former Speaker Dennis Bonnen recently in an interview on the Austin-based cable station Spectrum News analyzing the ongoing election cycle and the upcoming legislative session.
Following last week’s bloodbath of Republican incumbents in the primary election (nine incumbents were defeated outright with more being forced into runoff elections), attention has turned to the race boiling in the background: Who will lead the Texas House in 2025?
Current Speaker Dade Phelan has been sent into a runoff election in his own district after coming in second place in the primary. Win or lose in the May runoff, lawmakers have already begun to move on from him. Discussions are churning about who the next speaker will be and, more importantly, how they will govern.
It’s a position in which Bonnen has limited experience. He was elected Speaker of the House in 2019, only to be forced to announce his resignation less than a year later due to his role in a bribery scandal. Phelan became Speaker in 2021 and has held the gavel ever since.
Capitol observers have argued, however, that Bonnen never really left. He’s still in Austin, having started a lobbying firm. His close allies—like State Reps. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) and Cody Harris (R-Palestine)—have remained in power as chairs of powerful committees. It’s those same members that are now courting support behind the scenes in an attempt to keep the speakership in the hands of the same faction next session.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/analysis/the-shrinking-dennis-bonnen-coalition-is-desperately-clinging-to-power/
