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.
He has the support of Attorney General Ken Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller and former President Donald Trump, according to the Texas Tribune.
“This has been a disastrous night for Dade Phelan,” Patrick said, according to The New York Times. “We’re a conservative state. A crimson red state. And we’ll always be.”
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Today’s election results have revealed that the battle for the soul of Texas is far from over. While David Covey and Dade Phelan are headed to a runoff, it’s clear that our fight against the liberal forces in Austin must continue unabated.
I am still immensely proud to have…
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) March 6, 2024
“Let this runoff be a rallying cry for all conservatives across Texas,” Paxton said, according to the Associated Press. “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,” Paxton said.
Will Phelan lose his election?
Phelan offered similar language but a different perspective.
“This runoff is not just another race, it’s the frontline of the battle for the soul of our district,” Phelan said in a statement, according to the Tribune. “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.”
So looks like Dade Phelan heads to a runoff. The guy who created a gun control committee with Dems, who fought constitutional carry, and supported red flag laws. I just want to know how the guy got enough votes for a runoff #txlege
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) March 6, 2024
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.
