Primary involving House Speaker Dade Phelan called "Battle for the Soul of Texas"
NORTH TEXAS - The third most powerful Republican leader in the Texas Capitol is in a fight to save his political career.
State Representative Dade Phelan, who serves as House Speaker, now faces a bruising runoff May 28 against one of his challengers, David Covey in the 21st House District in and around Beaumont in southeast Texas.
In a statement issued Tuesday night, Phelan said, "This runoff is not just another race, it's the frontline of the battle for the soul of our district. The barrage aimed at our campaign over the past year was meant to be my undoing, and yet here I am, emerging from the most contentious and expensive primary in state history."
David Covey won 46 percent of the vote to Phelan's 43 percent.
Covey had the backing of Former President Donald Trump, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, and Attorney General Ken Paxton.
All three of them railed against Phelan for allowing the impeachment process against Paxton to take place in the Texas House and continuing the practice of having Democrats serve as committee chairs in addition to Republicans.
"Today's election results have revealed that the battle for the soul of Texas is far from over," Paxton said in a statement late Tuesday night. "Let this runoff be a rallying cry for all conservatives across Texas."
As Speaker, Phelan oversees the House, and he can influence what bills are passed and how the chamber is run.
"This is a very local race that took on a very statewide feel," Dr. Joshua Blank with the Texas Politics Project at UT Austin said. "Tons of money was spent on this race to unseat a sitting Speaker which is pretty unusual, and ultimately, he's not out of the woods yet."
Blank said to look for millions of dollars to flow into this runoff.
It is battles like these and in other Texas House districts that Blank said drove Republican turnout across the state.
Governor Greg Abbott targeted 21 Republicans who voted against his school voucher plan. Of those, five incumbents did not run, six lost their races, four are now in a runoff, and six won.
When this issue comes up again next year, Blank said it will likely become much harder for lawmakers to block taxpayer-funded school savings accounts.
The Attorney General also tried to influence the outcome of the elections.
He supported the candidates who opposed his impeachment in the House.
Of the 44 candidates he backed, 15 won, 20 lost, and nine ended up in a runoff.
That will make the runoff elections in late May very interesting to watch.
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