Republican state House Speaker Dade Phelan showed up to his election night watch party in Beaumont with a camo campaign hat, a victory cigar, and a posse of his top lieutenants in tow after having eked out a runoff victory by just a few hundred votes.
“HD 21 is not for sale,” he told supporters after spending a boatload of big establishment donor money to beat his challenger, GOP activist David Covey, who was himself backed by a somewhat larger boatload of far-right donor money in what was one of the most expensive state House primary races Texas has seen.
“I will be your representative to the House next session. And I will be your speaker next session,” he said. While the former is certainly true, the latter is less certain.
