Dustin Burrows’s election as Texas house speaker sparks MAGA anger

Some supporters of Donald Trump‘s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement reacted with fury on Tuesday after Texas Republican Dustin Burrows was elected as speaker of the state’s house thanks to the votes of Democratic representatives.

Burrows was victorious on the second round of voting with 85 backers against 55 for Republican rival Rep. David Cook, who picked up a strong conservative grassroots following with vows to pursue a more radical agenda including banning Democratic committee chairs. Of Burrows’ voters, 49 were Democratic representatives and 36 Republican, meaning he only secured the speakership with support from the opposition party.

Newsweek contacted Representatives Dustin Burrows and David Cook for comment on Wednesday outside of regular office hours via email and online inquiry form respectively.

Why It Matters

The Republican Party of Texas has been rocked by infighting since 2023 over a failed bid to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, a conservative favorite. This led to then Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan, an ally of Burrows, being censured by the Texas Republican Party, though he was backed by prominent GOP figures including former Governor Rick Perry.

In May 2024, Phelan narrowly survived a primary runoff battle against fellow Republican David Covey, who was backed by then GOP presumptive presidential candidate Donald Trump who called him “an America First conservative.”

What To Know

Cook had been endorsed by a number of prominent conservative voices including Attorney General Paxton, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Donald Trump Jr., son of the president-elect.

Meanwhile, Burrows was backed by former Speaker Phelan and Republican state Representative Carl Tepper.

Speaking after his victory, Burrows vowed all Texas House representatives would be listened to, including his opponents. He said: “I commit to you today, every member will have a voice. Every district will have a seat at the table.”

Texas Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu welcomed Burrows’ win, but also sounded a note of caution. He said: “This House cannot function without Democratic participation and leadership. While Speaker Burrows and our caucus may not see eye to eye on every policy issue, we stand united in rejecting the control of political extremists and protecting the integrity of the People’s House.”

What People Are Saying

Lt. Gov Dan Patrick, in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter: “Despite having a clear majority of Republican votes, Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, was defeated. Speaker Burrows was handed the speakership by Democrats, as has happened behind closed doors session after session since 2009.

“This may be the first time in our nation’s history where the minority party openly elected the speaker of a legislative body instead of the majority party.”

Patrick urged Burrows to work with Texas Senate Republicans on a range of legislation including banning critical race theory (CRT) in higher education, introducing the 10 Commandments to each classroom and prohibiting the ownership of Texan land by “foreign adversaries.”

Texas GOP Representative-elect Shelley Luther wrote on X: “Today, the RINO (anti-MAGA) Establishment laughed in the faces of our Republican grassroots. They chose Democrat chairs and Lobbyist buddies over their voters. I look forward to seeing if they’re still laughing after the next round of primaries. The fight starts today.”

Republican in name only (RINO) is a term that has been adopted by some Trump supporters to refer to more conventional GOP politicians who oppose parts of his agenda.

The popular conservative “TheTexasOne” X account, which has over 200,000 followers on the platform, wrote: “The Texas House has fallen to RINO Republican Dustin Burrows and the Democrats. Expect them to fight Trump’s agenda all the way. Dustin Burrows is Dade Phelan 2.0.”

George Behizy, a Christian conservative commentator with more than 560,000 X followers, posted: “IT’S OFFICIAL! The Deep State just captured the Texas State House. Democrats gave super-RINO Dustin Burrows their votes, and he’ll now be the new House Speaker. Texans have some serious house cleaning to do. Please start voting in primaries; they matter now more than ever.”

However, Burrows was backed by a statement released by Rep. Carl Tepper, one of the Republicans who voted for him, who said: “This is a fantastic day not only for West Texas but for our entire state. Speaker Burrows is a principled conservative with a clear track record of championing values that reflect our faith and conservative ideology.”

What Happens Next

As speaker, Burrows is likely to come under pressure to back conservative legislation introduced to the Republican controlled Senate, including election integrity bills, new laws on school vouchers and the banning of what they term “critical race theory” in higher education.

Texas Republican Party infighting, which has been going on since 2023 over a mixture of policy and personality differences, looks likely to continue and Burrows will have to navigate this if he wants to keep the speaker’s chair.