Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan heads to runoff against Trump-backed GOP primary opponent

House Speaker Dade Phelan was unable to secure his reelection to his Southeast Texas district Tuesday night and will head into a runoff election against a GOP primary challenger backed by former President Donald Trump and Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to unofficial results and both candidates.

David Covey, an oil and gas industry consultant and a marquee candidate for Paxton's revenge tour against House Republicans who voted to impeach him last year, came out on top in the three-person race, with Phelan securing the second spot to make it to the May 28 runoff after neither candidate received a majority of the vote.

“This runoff is not just another race, it’s the frontline of the battle for the soul of our district," Phelan, R-Beaumont, said in announcing the runoff. "While my opponent hides behind empty rhetoric, dishonest advertising and surrogate voices, I stand before voters with a clear record of service and conservative success for Southeast Texas."

The effort to unseat Phelan — orchestrated by Paxton after the House's overwhelming vote on May 27 to impeach the attorney general on 20 charges, including bribery and abuse of office — resulted in Covey's top vote-getting position Tuesday as he led for most of the evening and closed with a roughly 3% lead over Phelan. Ultimately, the Senate cleared Paxton of wrongdoing mostly along party lines.

Covey did not respond to an American-Statesman request for comment.

In a statement on X, formerly Twitter, Paxton said he is "immensely proud" to have supported Covey in his bid to oust the speaker.

More: 2024 Texas primary election live updates: Get latest unofficial voting results

"Today's election results have revealed that the battle for the soul of Texas is far from over," Paxton wrote. "While David Covey and Dade Phelan are headed to a runoff, it's clear that our fight against the liberal forces in Austin must continue unabated."

Earlier on Super Tuesday, Phelan, in an interview with WFAA, addressed Paxton's aggressive push to unseat him, saying he wishes Paxton well in his upcoming securities fraud trial in April in Houston.

"I'd tell Ken, you know, best of luck in the future," Phelan told WFAA. "He's got a rough road ahead of him."

Across the primary campaign season, Paxton was unabashed in attacking Phelan, often taking the stage at events across Texas to disparage the speaker's approval of the impeachment and painted him as weak on Republican priorities.

Additionally, alongside Paxton, Trump joined in campaigning against Phelan, and included the speaker on a lengthy list of candidates he was seeking to be ousted, largely in line with Paxton's political hit list.

"This runoff is not a defeat, but rather a call to arms for all who stand for the principles of the America First movement," Paxton said.

During a bruising 2023 legislative session, followed by a series of special sessions, Phelan often caught intraparty fire from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who leads the Senate, as the two legislative chambers struggled to hammer out deals to address property taxes, border security and school choice.

Although the Legislature eventually passed a bill addressing property taxes and introduced into law a sweeping border security package, Patrick and Phelan have remained on bad terms as the Senate's boss has actively campaigned against Phelan and his allies.

On Tuesday, Patrick was on hand with Covey as news broke about the runoff election.

“Against a tidal wave of outside influence and the relentless flood of special interest dollars pouring into House District 21, our campaign emerges today still standing strong against the tides that have sought to unseat me," Phelan said Tuesday night. "The barrage aimed at our campaign over the past year was meant to be my undoing, and yet here I am, emerging from the most contentious and expensive primary in state history still fighting and more determined than ever."

The most recent Texas House speaker to be ousted in his own party's primary was Rayford Price, a conservative Democrat, in 1972. He was defeated by a progressive Democrat, Fred Head, who was a sitting House member who had moved into Price's district to challenge the speaker, according to "The House Will Come to Order," a history of the Texas House speakership published in 2010.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas election: Phelan heads to runoff against GOP primary challenger