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Both Rep. David Cook and Rep. Dustin Burrows claim they have enough votes to become the next speaker of the Texas House.
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Cook is from Mansfield and has support from some conservative Republicans like Donald Trump Jr.
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Burrows is from Lubbock. He’s an ally of former speaker Dade Phelan and is backed by some North Texans like Jeff Leach and Jared Patterson.
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Both Rep. David Cook and Rep. Dustin Burrows claim they have enough votes to become the next speaker of the Texas House.
-
Cook is from Mansfield and has support from some conservative Republicans like Donald Trump Jr.
-
Burrows is from Lubbock. He’s an ally of former speaker Dade Phelan and is backed by some North Texans like Jeff Leach and Jared Patterson.
DallasRepublicans in Texas are fighting about who should be the next speaker of the Texas House. Both legislators assert that they have the votes.
Mansfield State Representative David Cook is one of those legislators.
In a straw vote on Saturday, he received the majority of Republican votes. However, that came after some Republicans left.
Cook and Lubbock’s Dustin Burrows now each claim to be the next speakers.
Texas House Speaker race: Cook nominated by Republicans; Burrows says he has enough votes
Both Dustin Burrows and David Cook are vying to be the Speaker of the Texas House.
When current Speaker Dade Phelan withdrew from the campaign on Friday, the backlash began. Then Burrows, an ally of Phelan, made the decision to run.
However, following a few secret votes on Saturday, Burrows and Cook were unable to secure the necessary number of votes to win the nomination.
After a group of Burrows supporters left, he said in a press conference that he had the backing of both Democrats and Republicans.
The issue is that some of the persons on his list of supporters withdrew their support after it was made public.
According to Matthew Wilson, a political scientist at SMU, the winner will demonstrate how conservative the legislation will be in 2025.
“The question, in my opinion, is whether the House will function much in the same manner as the Senate and whether it will have a distinctly conservative bent, as we have seen in the Texas Senate. If Cook wins, I think the Democratic Party’s chairmanships in the House would likely come to an end. Additionally, conservative legislation will have an easier time getting to the governor’s desk. “I believe that if Burrows wins, the House will once more act as a check on or a barrier to what the Senate wants done,” he said.
Texas House Speaker: What do they do?
What are the requirements and duties for becoming the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives?
Burrows is supported by several Republicans from North Texas, including Plano’s Jeff Leach and Frisco’s Jared Patterson.
Additionally, there is external pressure to support Cook from individuals such as Donald Trump Jr.
Next month is the formal House vote date.
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For this report, FOX 4’s Steven Dial spoke with SMU political scientist Matthew Wilson and analyzed previous press coverage.
For this report, FOX 4’s Steven Dial spoke with SMU political scientist Matthew Wilson and analyzed previous press coverage.
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