AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Rep. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, was voted as next Texas House Speaker after a runoff on Tuesday as the 89th legislative session kicked off Tuesday.
Burrows shared a message of unity in his acceptance speech after a month of facing pressure from his own party to step down from the race.
“Recent days have tested our bonds, yet they’ve also proven that this institution is greater than any one individual or faction,” Burrows said to his House colleagues on the dais. He went on to say members will need to work together to pass property tax cuts, public education funding, and water infrastructure fixes.
“I commit to you today, every member, every member, will have a voice,” Burrows said to his colleagues.
Republicans who supported State Rep. David Cook, R – Mansfield, for the speakership sounded off following the vote. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who had been vocal in the weeks leading up to the vote that House Republicans vote for Cook because he was the House Republican Caucus nominee, said in a statement, “I am proud of the Republicans who stood together and voted for Rep. Cook, the House Republican Caucus nominee. Republican voters expected the new speaker to be elected by Republicans, not Democrats.”
State Rep. Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos, D – Richardson, State Rep. David Cook, R – Mansfield, and State Rep. Dustin Burrows, R – Lubbock, were all nominated for the position by their colleagues.
Several members spoke to the chamber in favor of all three nominees. Each nominee is allowed to have three speeches each in favor of them before the entire chamber takes a vote. Nominees will need 76 votes to secure the vote.
After the first ballot, none of the candidates had enough votes to win. So members voted again with only the top two candidates, Cook and Burrows, on the ballot.
The chamber continued to vote until one nominee got 76 votes. Burrows got 85 votes clearing the 76-vote threshold to become the speaker.
The House of Representatives was busting at the seams Tuesday afternoon as all 150 lawmakers and their families crowded in for the ceremonial swearing-in of the 89th legislative session.
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