This week key developments will play out in the power battle in the lower chamber of the Texas legislature. The stakes may be who is the third most powerful person in the state - the Speaker of the Texas House.
This week both political parties will select key leaders before they return to Austin in mid-January for their legislative session.
On December 4th the House Democratic Caucus will meet. On December 7th the Republican House caucus will meet. Both parties have factions that want to stop the Republican-led but bipartisan coalition that currently governs the Texas House.
Supporters of the coalition argue scrapping it could lead to Washington-style partisan gridlock. The right flank of the Republican party has tried to un-lodge the coalition for several years. What's new this week is a challenge from the left.
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Rep. John Bryant, D - Dallas, launched a bid to oust the House Democratic Chair, the leader of the Democrats in the lower chamber, Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D - San Antonio.
“If the public doesn’t see a difference between the two parties, they’re not going to make a decision in our favor. In order to be seen and heard, you have to be doing something," said Rep. Bryant in an interview with Lone Star Politics.
Bryant believes Democrats should give up the bipartisan coalition and the committee chairs that come with it if it leads them to sacrifice their values. In his view, Democrats should be more oppositional and obstructionist because the House leadership needs Democratic votes to reach the 100-vote threshold for the state budget and constitutional amendments, like changes to the property tax system.
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That may mean holding those must-pass bills hostage.
“That’s right. And we talked about how we were going to do that in the last legislature and it never happened," said Rep. Bryant, "When you’re in the minority you have to use all of your leverage to get concessions that serve the public interest and you see it.”
Rep. Martinez Fischer did not return a phone call to respond but earlier welcomed Bryant to the race in a post online.
On the Republican side of the aisle this week the GOP caucus will choose their candidate for Speaker of the House.
Former Mansfield Mayor and now State Representative David Cook is challenging incumbent Speaker Dade Phelan, R - Beaumont.
Cook did not return a request for comment. A group of ultra-conservative members of the lower chamber have waged an insurgent rebellion against incumbent Speaker Phelan over the bipartisan coalition and the impeachment vote of Attorney General Ken Paxton last year. Cook voted to impeach Paxton but the conservatives have rallied around Cook as a Phelan alternative.
Phelan for his part has argued that his Republican-led but bipartisan coalition has passed laws Republicans have wanted for years: historic property tax relief, constitutional carry of guns, and a near-total ban on abortion.
He's also tapped former Governor Rick Perry to advise him in the turbulent days ahead.
"Oh, he’s got the votes to be elected Speaker. I’m not concerned about that," said Perry in an interview with NBC 5 media partner KXAN News.
"I’m trying to help these members on is how do we move forward in the state.”
Perry, Phelan, and their supporters point to a long-running tradition of the majority party working across party lines in order to keep the lower chamber functioning for big-ticket items.
"We’re going to work with you. You’re part of this. We’re going to need your votes on constitutional amendments that require a hundred votes and there’s not a hundred Republicans," said Perry.
