A stand-off to be the third most powerful person in the State of Texas is ongoing after a chaotic weekend.
Earlier, incumbent Speaker of the Texas House Dade Phelan, R - Beaumont, stepped down. Two competing factions of lawmakers aim for the job: the first is a larger bipartisan coalition of Republicans and Democrats. The other is a smaller group led by the choice from the Texas House Republican Caucus.
House Republicans deadlocked over the weekend when they met to choose a speaker's candidate. After several hours, a small group of Republicans bolted the meeting.
The bolters re-emerged later that day by Rep. Dustin Burrows, R - Lubbock.
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"Thank you all for being here today. I think it's customary to announce the Speaker's race is over," said Burrows, after claiming he had 76 out of the 150 chamber votes to be the leader the House. He did not take questions from the press but signaled he would continue the longstanding tradition of giving some Democrats positions of power within the chamber. His votes were made up of roughly half Democrats and half Republicans.
"I love this institution. I love the House. It has given me many, many opportunities and chances to do great things, and this House has done great, great things together," said Rep. Burrows.
Down the hall, Rep. David Cook, R - Mansfield, emerged as the leader and choice of the House Republican Caucus.
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"I think this is still a race," said Rep. Cook, "We were hopeful that the 88 Republicans and Texas House Republican Caucus would come together and make a decision, a unified decision to unify all Texas House Republicans.”
Since then, several House members publicly backpedaled and currently the number of votes Burrows and Cook have is unclear.
It is possible for a third candidate to emerge before the January 14 start of the legislative session when the Texas House officially votes for its speaker.
