Texas House's shift to the right expected to cause contention at State Capitol
Former President Donald Trump is the first former president in U.S. history to be convicted of a crime. Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan will keep his southeast Texas House seat after surviving a brutal primary battle. But there will still be a shift at the Capitol, as multiple House Republicans lost their primaries.
Jack Fink covers these stories and more in the latest edition of Eye on Politics (original air date: June 2).
Trump verdict fallout
A New York City jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on 34 felonies for falsifying records to hide payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He is the first former president to be convicted of a crime.
On Friday, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee blasted the verdict.
"This is a scam," Trump said. "This is a rigged trial."
Trump can still run for president with a conviction. After Thursday's verdict, his campaign announced he took in nearly $53 million in the first 24 hours of fundraising.
The verdict came down as Jack was interviewing Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. He criticized the trial judge, saying he ran a kangaroo court.
"This is not about law," Cruz said. "This is not about criminal justice. This is about politics. This is about trying to destroy Donald Trump. That was the whole point of this, to run millions of dollars of campaign ads, calling Joe Biden's principal opponent, Donald Trump, a convicted felon. This is politics. This is an abuse of the rule of law."
The day after the verdict, Democratic Congressman Marc Veasey said everyone must follow the rule of law.
"When they don't follow those rules, then they have to be held accountable," Veasey said. "Whether it's through civil law or our criminal justice system and yesterday, Trump was held accountable."
Trump will be sentenced on July 11, just days before the Republican National Convention.
Election night takeaways
The combative Texas primary runoff elections are now over and there are a few key takeaways:
- Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan won his bruising battle against Republican David Covey in southeast Texas by just 366 votes
- Phelan will face a challenge from at least two Republicans who say they are also running for speaker: Tom Oliverson of Cypress and Shelby Slawson of Stephenville
- The Texas House will become more conservative after eight Republican incumbents in the Texas House lost their seats to challengers backed by Gov. Greg Abbott an Attorney General Ken Paxton
- Abbott says there are enough votes to pass his school choice plan consisting of taxpayer-funded education savings accounts
Unlike past years, so much of this year's political focus has centered on the Texas House, specifically Republican incumbents and Speaker Phelan himself.
Phelan defeated Covey after a nasty and the most expensive primary race in the Texas House.
Former President Donald Trump, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton all backed Covey and rallied to remove Phelan from his seat.
"What matters is who lives in House District 21," Phelan told reporters on election night. "It matters who lives in Jefferson, Orange and Jasper County. Folks outside this district can't vote. They can endorse, but they can't vote."
In total, eight Republicans incumbents in the Texas House from around North Texas lost in the March 5 primary and primary runoffs.
Read more about the election results here.
Even though Phelan remains in his House seat, it remains to be seen whether he'll be elected House Speaker again.
Paxton issued a statement Tuesday night warning Republicans in the House:
"To those considering supporting Dade Phelan as Speaker in 2025, ask your 15 colleagues who lost re-election how they feel about their decision now. You will not return if you vote for Dade Phelan again."
Some conservative House members are sticking with Speaker Phelan despite the warning, including Jeff Leach of Allen and Matt Shaheen of Frisco.
Jack spoke with both lawmakers, who called Paxton irrelevant.
"He's bitter, he's playing games, I don't think a lot of people take him very seriously," said Shaheen.
"I don't regret voting to impeach General Paxton," said Leach. "And I won't regret voting for Speaker Phelan when he runs for reelection as Speaker of the Texas House."
Watch Jack's conversation with Leach and Shaheen below:
Others, like Republican House members Nate Schatzline of Fort Worth and Brian Harrison of Ellis County, won't be supporting Phelan. Both supported Paxton's message to House Republicans.
"This is going to be a war," Schatzline said. "And this next session is going to be the same result if we do not go in and fight for our GOP priorities."
"This last primary season should be a wake-up call for you," Harrison said. "If you continue to collude with the Democrats to betray the Republican voters of the State of Texas who sent you there."
Watch Jack's conversation with Schatzline and Harrison below:
Jack also spoke to former Democratic State Rep. Lorraine Birabil of Dallas and conservative and former TEA Commissioner Michael Williams, who say the House will now be more MAGA.