Slaton among 3 Republicans voting against Phelan in Texas House speaker election

In the Texas House of Representatives, Beaumont Republican Dade Phelan was elected speaker Tuesday. Phelan also served as speaker in the last session of the Texas Legislature in 2021. The 2023 session began yesterday. Phelan was elected by a 145 to 3 vote. The three votes against Phelan were cast in favor of Arlington Republican Tony Tinderholt. One of those three votes was cast by Royse City Republican Bryan Slaton. The Texas Tribune reports that in his nominating speech for Tinderholt, Slaton said the established practice of selecting some minority party members for committee chair positions is an overly generous “consolation prize” for losing an election. Slaton said Phelan’s appointing of selected Democrats to committee chairs would weaken Republican efforts in this year’s session. KETR listening area Republican state reps voting in favor of Phelan were Gary Van Deaver of New Boston, Cole Hefner of Mount Pleasant, Justin Holland of Heath, Reggie Smith of Van Alstyne, Jeff Leach of Plano, and Candy Noble of Lucas.