Texas Republican Party censures Speaker Dade Phelan for 'lack of fidelity' to GOP principles

The Texas Republican Party on Saturday censured House Speaker Dade Phelan "for lack of fidelity to Republican principles and priorities" in yet another example of intraparty warfare heading into the March primary election in which the embattled leader of the Legislature's lower chamber is at the center.

In a terse news release, the state party said it was only the fourth such move in its history and that the State Republican Executive Committee voted 55-4 to censure Phelan with four members abstaining.

According to the Texas GOP, the censure has the effect of "imposing the full set of penalties allowed by the rules" on Phelan.

A spokeswoman for Phelan, the Beaumont Republican in his second term as speaker of the GOP-dominated 150-member House, was defiantly dismissive of the vote.

“This is the same organization that rolled out the red carpet for a group of Neo-Nazis, refused to disassociate from anti-Semitic groups and balked at formally condemning a known sexual predator before he was ousted from the Texas House," Cait Meisenheimer, a top communication's aide to the speaker, said in a statement. "The SREC has lost its moral authority and is no longer representative of the views of the Party as a whole.”

Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political science professor who keeps a close watch on Capitol politics, agreed that the hardcore activists within the party's executive committee are often out of step with everyday Texas Republicans.

"The insurgent wing of the Republican Party hasn’t met a speaker they like," Rottinghaus told the American-Statesman on Saturday after the vote. "Anyone in leadership roles for the GOP in the House has a target on their back and get the RINO (Republican In Name Only) tag."

Phelan for months has been taking heat from Attorney General Ken Paxton, who was impeached by the House with the speaker's blessing in May, and from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversaw the Senate trial that acquitted Paxton largely along party lines. Paxton has actively campaigned for Phelan's primary election opponent, veteran GOP activist David Covey, in the Southeast Texas House district. Covey has also gained the endorsement of former President Donald Trump.

In a post of X, formerly Twitter, Paxton wrote: "Good job, @TexasGOP."

The move by the GOP executive committee, which is largely made up of delegates elected from the 31 state Senate districts, was prompted by a separate censure vote taken earlier by the Republican Party of Jasper County. Under state GOP rules, a county that votes to censure an office holder may ask for a vote from the whole party.

The censure resolution takes aim at Phelan's role in bringing the impeachment proceedings against Paxton, which charged the state's top lawyer with misuse of office and obstruction of justice in connection with a reported extramarital affair by the attorney general and accusations that Paxton sought favors from a political benefactor.

Paxton has called the allegations baseless.

"Speaker Phelan unjustifiably and irresponsibly wasted Texas taxpayer money in referring and promoting the Resolution to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, resulting in an expensive and time-consuming trial in the Texas State Senate," one section of the formal GOP resolution states.

The resolution also chastises Phelan for appointing a handful of Democratic members to chair House committees. Bipartisan committee chairmanships are a longstanding custom in the Texas House that has been followed by speakers of both parties.

The resolution also seeks to withhold party funds from Phelan in his campaign for reelection to his House district.

"No Rule or Bylaw enacted by any division of the Party at any level that demands the Party be neutral in intraparty contests shall be observed with respect to Representative Dade Phelan, and no financial or other support shall be provided to his campaign by the Party except that which is required by law," the resolutions states.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas GOP censures Speaker Dade Phelan for 'lack of fidelity' to party