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How is the Speaker of the Texas House chosen?

Here is the Texas Minute for Monday, April 4, 2022.

– Brandon Waltens

When reading stories about the Texas Legislature, one position is repeatedly mentioned: the Speaker of the House.

Indeed, the Speaker of the House wields a great amount of power and influence over what legislation ultimately gets enacted and which gets thrown to the wayside.

But what exactly is the Speaker of the House? And how are they chosen? On paper, the speaker of the house is just an administrator tasked with keeping order in the lower chamber of the Texas Legislature. In reality, the speaker has an incredibly powerful position and sets the agenda for the state House.

Perhaps the greatest example of the speaker’s power is that they name committees and appoint committee chairs. They can also apply pressure by forcing votes in certain directions.

Similarly, a Republican speaker who doesn’t want a piece of conservative legislation to pass could refer a bill to a committee led by a Democrat, which would nearly guarantee its demise. (Remember: the speaker appoints the committee chairs.)

When voters go to the polls, they have the opportunity to elect the lieutenant governor, who serves as the president of the Texas Senate. In the Texas House, however, leadership is chosen by the members themselves—not directly by the voters. Additionally, unlike Washington DC, the speaker of the house must be a sitting member of the Texas House.

Choosing the speaker of the house is one of the first orders of business when a new legislature is sworn in, though campaigns for the position begin long before then. Despite Republicans holding a majority in the chamber, all recent speakers have used Democrat support to secure the position.

A speaker hopeful may ask members to “pledge” their support for their campaigns. Once a candidate has a majority of pledged support (76 of the chamber’s 150 members), the race is generally considered over and nearly all of the holdout members rally around them.

When the current Speaker Dade Phelan was elected in 2021, for example, only two members voted against him (State Reps. Jeff Cason and Bryan Slaton). When Dennis Bonnen was elected to the position in 2019, the vote was unanimous. Phelan has indicated he will run for the position again in 2023. No member has indicated they will challenge him for the position.

The next vote for speaker of the house will take place when the legislature convenes on January 10, 2023. 🔒 Donate to Texas Scorecard 🔒 [[link removed]] Today in History

On April 4, 1818, a plan was passsed by the U.S. Congress that the U.S. flag would have 13 red and white stripes and 20 stars and that a new star would be added for the each new state.

Quote-Unquote

“If we are too weak to take charge of our own morality, we shall not be strong enough to take charge of our own liberty.”

– Calvin Coolidge​

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Your Federal & State Lawmakers

The districts displayed here should reflect those recently redrawn by the Legislature. Though the new lines do not take representational effect until 2023, they will appear on the 2022 ballot. Please note that your incumbent legislator and/or district numbers may have changed.

U.S. Senator [[link removed]]

John Cornyn (R)

(202) 224-2934

U.S. Senator [[link removed]]

Ted Cruz (R)

(202) 224-5922

Governor of Texas [[link removed]]

Greg Abbott (R)

(512) 463-2000

Lt. Governor [[link removed]]

Dan Patrick (R)

(512) 463-0001

State Board of Education [[link removed]], District

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U.S. House [[link removed]], District

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Texas Senate [[link removed]], District

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Speaker of the Texas House

Dade Phelan (R)

(512) 463-1000

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Produced by Michael Quinn Sullivan and Brandon Waltens, the Texas Minute is a quick look at the news and info of the day we find interesting, and hope you do as well. It is delivered weekday mornings (though we'll take the occasional break for holidays and whatnot).

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