Texas runoff election sets races for November after Republican party civil war

Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan survived the unpleasant second primary round for his seat, while conservative state Rep. Justin Holland lost his suburban Dallas seat to Trump’s 2016 spokeswoman Katrina Pierson in two of the highest-profile races in the increasingly bloody internal war among Texas Republicans .

Despite Republicans’ 84-66 majority in the state House of Representatives and the success of the conservative agenda in the 2023 legislative session, 15 House Republicans lost to challengers in the March primary or Tuesday night runoff. Republicans have fallen victim to intraparty warfare, with Attorney General Ken Paxton targeting Republicans who voted to impeach him last year and separately, Gov. Greg Abbott supported opponents of Republicans who voted against his school voucher bill.

Six of the eight incumbents lost Tuesday night to challengers, with Abbott declaring Tuesday night that he had enough votes to pass his voucher bill. Last fall, 21 state House Republicans — mostly from rural districts — joined all Democrats to defeat your voucher account. Abbott supported several opponents of the Republicans who voted against his bill.

Phelan, who has represented the Beaumont area since 2015 and was speaker of the House for two terms, did not pressure his members to support Abbott’s bill in a special November legislative session, according to the Texas Tribune.

Although Abbott was left out of Phelan’s race, Paxton vowed to defeat him and challenger David Covey still managed to score endorsements from former President Donald Trump and powerful Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

On Tuesday, Phelan managed to fend off Covey by less than 500 votes, according to the Associated Press.

“I am immensely grateful to the voters of Southeast Texas who spoke loud and clear: in Southeast Texas, we set our own course – our community is not for sale and our values ​​are not at auction,” Phelan said in a statement . declaration. “I owe a deep debt of gratitude to all the voters and volunteers whose tireless dedication turned this vision into tonight’s resounding victory.”

Following the results, Paxton posted on social media “Statement from Texas AG Ken Paxton on the theft of the election from Dade Phelan” and called for the primaries to be closed to Republicans only.

“My message to Austin is clear: For those considering supporting Dade Phelan for speaker of the House in 2025, ask your 15 colleagues who lost re-election how they feel about their decision now,” Paxton said. “You will not return if you vote for Dade Phelan again!”

Phelan was targeted by Paxton for leading the Texas House impeachment case last year against Paxton, one of Trump’s closest allies. Phelan launched the investigation into Paxton at the start of the 2023 legislative session and moved forward with Paxton’s impeachment related to allegations of misconduct, including bribery and abuse of power.

Before the impeachment vote, Paxton accused Phelan of being drunk on the House floor.

Sixty House Republicans – more than two-thirds of the 84 total House Republicans – joined all 66 Democrats in voting to impeach Paxton on 20 articles. Paxton was finally acquitted in the Republican Party-controlled state Senate.

The victorious Paxton then endorsed challengers to those who voted to impeach him and embarked on a “fall statewide tour” to campaign for them. Facing the Paxton-backed challenger, impeachment manager, Republican Representative Andrew Murr, grandson of Coke Stevenson, who lost the disputed 1948 Senate election to Lyndon Johnson, chose not to run for re-election.

Phelan came in second in the March primary, but Covey did not secure the 50% vote needed to avoid a runoff.

The five state representatives representing Paxton’s home county of Collin County were among the 60 who voted to impeach him. In a joint statement, they said the vote was “an incredibly difficult vote as, for most of us, Ken is a long-time friend.”

One of those five, Paxton’s hometown lawmaker Rep. Frederick Frazier, was defeated Tuesday night by challenger Keresa Richardson. In addition to being targeted by Paxton, Frazier pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and no contest on two misdemeanor charges for allegedly impersonating a public servant.

Another of Paxton’s targets was Holland, who also represents Paxton’s home district of Collin County. Abbott supported Pierson in the primary due to Holland’s vote against school vouchers. Holland also angered the party’s right wing after voting out of committee a bill that had no chance of passing the House floor and that would have raised the age for gun background checks following a shooting in his district.