Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan survives challenge in District 21 GOP runoff election

Embattled Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who has spent the 2024 election cycle in the crosshairs of former President Donald Trump and two of the state's most powerful statewide officeholders, survived his GOP primary runoff election Tuesday in House District 21.

Phelan, in his second term as speaker and his fourth term as a state representative from Beaumont, defeated newcomer David Covey 50.7% to 49.3%, according to unofficial vote totals by the Texas Secretary of State's Office.

Election results: Get real-time Texas primary runoff election results for key Austin area races

“Tonight, I am immensely grateful to the voters of Southeast Texas, who have spoken loud and clear: in Southeast Texas, we set our own course—our community is not for sale, and our values are not up for auction," Phelan said in a statement Tuesday night. "I owe a profound debt of gratitude to every voter and volunteer whose relentless dedication turned that vision into tonight’s resounding victory."

The victory for Phelan is a setback for Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Attorney General Ken Paxton, both of whom campaigned vigorously for Covey and had been calling for Phelan's ouster. Gov. Greg Abbott remained neutral in the battle rife with statewide implications, but he posted his congratulations to Phelan on social media when the results were in.

With no Democrat on the November ballot, Phelan's reelection to House District 21, which runs south from Jasper to the Gulf Coast, is assured. Whether he can win a third term at the helm of the lower chamber, however, remains uncertain.

A warning from Paxton to Phelan's allies

Paxton, who has been in a Republican-on-Republican blood feud with Phelan since the House brought impeachment charges against the attorney general a year and a day before Tuesday's pivotal runoff, made clear that he intends to wrest the speaker's gavel away from his political enemy.

"My message to Austin is clear: to those considering supporting Dade Phelan as Speaker in 2025, ask your 15 colleagues who lost re-election how they feel about their decision now," Paxton said in a statement, a reference to the successful primary war he waged on several of Phelan's House GOP allies. "You will not return if you vote for Dade Phelan again"

Phelan, in his statement, did not address the speaker's race, which won't be decided until January, and instead is shifting his focus to the upcoming general election.

“With the conclusion of the runoff, my sights are now set firmly on the November election," Phelan said. "I look forward to hitting the ground running to ensure the Texas House is best positioned for what promises to be another landmark conservative session, bolstered by as strong a Republican majority as possible."

Covey: Election 'stolen' by Democrats

Covey, a newcomer to elective politics but a former chairman of the Orange County GOP, lashed out at Phelan saying the runoff was effectively highjacked by Democrats voting in the Republican-only contest.

"Dade Phelan may have won this election, but in doing so, he has irrevocably destroyed his already feeble legacy,” Covey said in a statement that came with a headline claiming Phelan "steals" the election with the aid of Democrats. “The Texas history books will undoubtedly record how a frightened Speaker, desperate to save his political future, mobilized the very party he claims to oppose. This betrayal of his own principles and supporters is a stain that will never be washed away."

Patrick, who bumped heads with the speaker throughout the legislative session last year, echoed Covey's remarks.

"If I had to rely on Democrats to win a Republican Primary, I wouldn’t run," the lieutenant governor said on X. "Having to count on Democrats to win a Republican Primary is selling out the GOP, just like he does in Austin every day."

Texas election with national significance

The runoff for the otherwise obscure Southeast Texas state House district took on statewide, and even national, significance that centered on Phelan's two-term stewardship of the Legislature's lower chamber. Along the way, it became the most expensive race for a state House office in Texas history, according the campaign spending monitoring firm AdImpact.

The acrimony between Phelan and Paxton came to a head a year and a day before Tuesday's runoffs. Over Memorial Day weekend in 2023, Phelan's General Investigation Committee presented impeachment charges against Paxton to the House, setting the stage for a trial in the Senate that ended in acquittal.

No sooner than the Texas Senate, which is run by Patrick, largely along party lines cleared Paxton of wrongdoing after an impeachment trial did the three-term attorney general make clear that he would make defeating Phelan one of his top political priorities. Paxton has made several campaign appearances on Covey's behalf and spent part of Tuesday helping the challenger to mobilize his voters to get to the polls.

Patrick's antipathy toward Phelan simmered throughout last year's regular legislative session as well as through a marathon series of special sessions before boiling over in public view on the Senate floor and later at a news conference where the lieutenant governor defined Phelan's time as speaker as "dysfunction," "negligence" and "stupidity."

Trump, who has a warm relationship with both Paxton and Patrick, insinuated himself in the race for House District 21 almost from the outset. He labeled Phelan a "RINO," or Republican In Name Only, for allowing the Paxton impeachment charges to go forward. Over the weekend, the former president and presumptive GOP presidential nominee this year, again called Republicans to reject the speaker.

"To the Great State of Texas—There is a very important Republican Runoff Election on Tuesday for many important races up and down the ballot," Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social. "In particular, Speaker Dade Phelan, who has done an absolutely horrible job…at ELECTION THEFT and ELECTION INTERFERENCE…"

Phelan's path to victory went straight through his home base of support. According to the unofficial tallies, the speaker carried Jefferson County, where he lives, by a near 2-1 margin. Covey, too, won his home county of Orange, but with a slimmer margin — 54% to 46%. The third county in the district, Jasper, went heavily for the challenger, but it represented only a fraction of the 25,260 total votes cast in the district.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas election results: Dade Phelan survives challenge in nail-biter