A number of state and local elected officials gathered in Tarrant County on Monday to show their support for the GOP candidate for Texas Speaker of the House, David Cook.
Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas GOP Chairman Abraham George, and State Reps. Tony Tinderholt (R-Arlington) and Nate Schatzline (R-Fort Worth) were present at the event, along with State Rep.-elects David Lowe, Mitch Little, Andy Hopper and Mike Olcott.
Noticeably absent from the rally were local State Rep.-elect John McQueeney and State Reps. Giovanni Capriglione (R-Southlake) and Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth).
Little told the gathered crowd that he is supporting Cook, who he believes will bring reform to the Texas House of Representatives.
“We have to fix it, reform it, make it more transparent so that your will can be brought to the floor of the Texas House,” Little said.
Tinderholt said that he hopes the Republicans supporting Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) for the Speaker role will change their mind before the House votes on the speakership on January 14.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, State Rep. David Cook (R-Mansfield) won the GOP caucus’ endorsement for Speaker, securing 48 votes out of the 88 caucus members. Burrows garnered 14 in the third and final round of voting. Some caucus members walked out of the meeting after the first two rounds of voting and did not participate in the third round.
In response, Burrows released a list of 76 alleged supporters, including 38 Republicans and 38 Democrats. To win the Speaker’s race, a state representative needs 76 votes to win the majority of the 150 House member votes.
“Let’s hope that they do the right thing and let’s push forward in the 14th, and we’re gonna be fine either way like you said, Mitch said we’re gonna be fine either way,” Tinderholt said.
George slammed the state representatives who are supporting Burrows.
“It’s the same group of people who killed our priority bills in the last session, and they’re continuing to work against, not only the Republican Party, but against Texans, an average Texan who is struggling with property tax issues, who is struggling with inflation in Texas, and the same Democrats who want to put more windmills and strangle our Texas energy here in Texas,” George told the crowd.
Although a GOP-led Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton in 2023, leaving him powerless for several months until he was acquitted of all charges by the Texas Senate, Paxton said he was grateful that the trial “woke up” Texas Republicans.
“I’m actually thankful now because it’s the first chance we’ve had in 16 years to change the Texas House, and if we can’t change the Texas House, we can’t get our priorities done,” Paxton said. “We can have the senate, we can have the governor, we can have the attorney general, but we cannot get your priorities done unless we change this.”