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Five years ago, Rep. Dustin Burrows’ reputation sustained a major blow among his House colleagues.
The Lubbock Republican resigned as chair of the House GOP Caucus after it was revealed that he and then-Speaker Dennis Bonnen tried to collude with a right-wing activist by providing a list of 10 GOP members they believed should be targeted by the activist’s political organization in the upcoming primary. The actions amounted to a shocking betrayal from House leaders who had previously threatened consequences for any incumbents who campaigned against fellow members in future elections. One of the would-be targets, Rep. Drew Darby of San Angelo, said it was time for the House to “begin to heal and rebuild trust” — something that could only happen if Burrows was “no longer in leadership.”
Bonnen retired. Burrows retreated from the spotlight, but steadily worked behind the scenes regaining his standing in the chamber.
Five years later, Burrows finds himself at the center of another Republican House leadership skirmish. Yet again, he got there because of his proximity to a sitting House speaker — this time Dade Phelan — who lost favor with a majority of GOP members. And once again he is at odds with many of the same political powers that contributed to his original demise.
Now, Burrows is seeking the gavel for himself, emerging as the chosen pick of establishment and moderate GOP lawmakers — including one-time critic Darby — after Phelan exited the race earlier this month.
His eleventh-hour speakership bid attracted immediate ire from the House’s rightmost faction and their allies outside the chamber. That contingent has vowed to censure and wage aggressive primary challenges against any House Republicans who do not vote for their preferred candidate, Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield. Cook became the House GOP Caucus’ speaker nominee after some of Burrows’ supporters walked out of the caucus’ meeting last weekend.
State Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, holds a press conference after the House Republican Caucus — minus several members, who walked out of the meeting — chose him for House speaker in the upcoming legislative session.
Credit:
Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune
In a declaration of political war, Burrows disregarded Cook’s endorsement and quickly announced that he had enough supporters to win the speakership in January when the full chamber votes. He released a list of 76 supporters, just enough to win, made up equally of Republicans and Democrats. Immediately, a few Republicans named on Burrows’ initial list of supporters asked for their names to be removed.
To date, Burrows no longer has enough public supporters to win. But publicly he is projecting confidence that he will. His path to victory ap
