Texas Scorecard by Michael Quinn Sullivan July 26, 2024
If the governor and lieutenant governor seem done with the House speaker, it is because they know the chamber is, too.Matthew McDade “Dade” Phelan is the incumbent speaker of the House, a title and position he retains only by the House not convening to elect a new speaker until January. For now, he can sit on the dais, hang out in his Capitol office just steps from the House chamber, and retain the cool parking place. But he’s functionally out of power.
Like Joe Biden left to wander the White House until his term expires, Dade Phelan is the third most powerful man in Texas… but he’s being effectively shunted aside. His lack of relevance to the 2025 policy agenda of the Lone Star State is on full display.
The causes of both Biden and Phelan being cast aside from power are remarkably similar. Like the electoral blowout feared by national Democrats with Biden at the top of the ticket, Phelan’s abysmal record of the Texas House under his mismanagement resulted in a political disaster; more incumbent Republicans lost their primary re-election campaigns than any time in modern history.
Phelan himself is damaged goods, politically. He outspent his primary opponent by a 5-to-1 margin yet garnered a “win” of less than 700 votes in a race that saw a couple of thousand Democrats flip primaries, clearly to “help” him.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/analysis-moving-on-from-mcdade/
