Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan is being forced into a runoff election with challenger David Covey after Covey finished with 46% to Phelan’s 43%. Phalen, you might remember, tried to get Texas AG Ken Paxton impeached for pointing out that Phalen appeared drunk on the House floor. This is the first time in 52 years that a Texas House Speaker failed to win a primary. Paxton survived the impeachment investigation, but Phalen is not looking good in keeping his seat.
Covey has the support of Attorney General Ken Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, and former President Donald Trump.
Patrick said, according to The New York Times:
“This has been a disastrous night for Dade Phelan. We’re a conservative state. A crimson red state. And we’ll always be.”
Phalen could always try to have Covey arrested for hunting a RINO out of season.
Paxton said:
VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL“Let this runoff be a rallying cry for all conservatives across Texas. The battle lines are drawn, and our resolve has never been stronger.”
“Today’s election results have revealed that the battle for the soul of Texas is far from over.”
Phalen was quoted as saying:
“This runoff is not just another race, it’s the frontline of the battle for the soul of our district. While my opponent hides behind empty rhetoric, dishonest advertising and surrogate voices, I stand before voters with a clear record of service and conservative success.”
A Trump-backed challenger has forced Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan into a runoff election.
According to CBS, challenger David Covey won 46 percent of the vote against Phelan’s 43 percent. Because neither candidate reached the 50 percent mark in the three-way race, a runoff will be held.
Covey is a former chairman of the Orange County Republican Party.
Phelan and Paxton have been at odds ever since Phelan supported impeaching Paxton last year, an effort that failed to remove Paxton once the case reached the state Senate.
Phelan had won easily in his past elections. One measure of the primary vote was that no Texas House speaker had lost a primary vote since 1972.
Covey and his backers attacked Phelan as a RINO (Republican in Name Only), criticizing the appointment of some Democrats to chair House committees and saying that border security bills were not sufficient or passed soon enough.
Dade has loaded down my mailbox every day with ads for more than a month and ran lies on TV about Covey and Covey still got 3 percent more votes than Phelan. Now they have to go to a runoff because a third candidate took 10 percent. Covey will win
— Robby71 (@71shadetree) March 6, 2024
Covey said Phelan was supporting “his liberal donors and friends in the Texas House” more than his constituents, according to the Houston Chronicle. There is no Democratic candidate in the race.
