As dust settles on run-off, Texas House Speaker Phelan survives, 'school choice' forces bolstered
HOUSTON - Ken Paxton, Dan Patrick and Donald Trump - a potent triad of "Hot Red" conservatism collaborating on what was supposed to be a punishing, once-and-for-all, political take down of Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan.
Instead, what unfolded on a steamy Tuesday in the Golden triangle was anything but, as the embattled Phelan narrowly retained his HD-21 seat by a slim 366 vote margin, side-stepping electoral oblivion and delivering a stinging counterpunch to the former president, the Lieutenant Governor, and especially the Attorney General.
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Victory in hand, Phelan emphasized the adage "politics is local."
"It was true grassroots, true grassroots that won this election. How important it is to have the Speaker of the House right here in Southeast Texas for the first time in 176 years, so that 75 days gave me the opportunity to reach out to Southeast Texans, explain to them how important my service was and will be, and that's why I won," said Phelan.
Unopposed in the November election, Phelan will return to Austin as a moderating force in a legislative process his opponents had hoped to push further to the right.
"Phelan certainly has enough Republican support right now, when you combine that with Democrats, he has more than enough votes to be re-elected speaker of the Texas House," said Mark Jones, Political Analyst at Rice University.
Also likely decided on Tuesday was the fate of "school choice" as Governor Greg Abbott's relentless advocacy elected just enough backers to finally push through "public funding for private tuition."
"We will see essentially a breaking of the ice, and for the first-time, school choice being adopted in Texas," predicted Jones.
In the battle to succeed Houston Mayor John Whitmire in the Texas Senate, emergency room nurse Molly Cook appears to have narrowly prevailed over State Representative Jarvis Johnson. While the result in the Democratic primary runoff is still unofficial and the margin of victory just 74 votes, Cook says voters purposely chose a deeply progressive candidate to push back on majority Republicans in Austin.
"It sends a message to the Republican extremists that we are not going to take this lying down, and we do have hope for our fights. Even in the face of an onslaught of terrible policies against the LGBTQ community, this District chose me to go back to Austin, represent us, and fight for us," said Cook.
Cook says she became the first openly LGBTQ person to serve in the Texas Senate when she won a special election earlier this month to complete Whitmire's term.