Gov. Greg Abbott has come out in support of Rep. David Cook for the Texas House speakership.
Abbott said on social media Wednesday that the speaker should be selected by a “majority of Republicans in accordance with the Republican Caucus Rules,” in an apparent endorsement of Cook for speaker over challenger Dustin Burrows. While Abbott did not name names, Cook has the support of a majority of Republican House backers.
Cook is seen as the more conservative of the two, while Burrows has the backing of House Democrats.
“There’s another candidate who’s running, [Burrows], who kind of went and gathered some of the Democrats and is claiming that he has a majority of the Texas House to become the next speaker,” said the Texas Tribune’s Renzo Downey. “But what the governor came out and said on Thursday was, well, we’ve got a process. And that process led to David Cook.”
Republicans have been butting heads over who will lead the House after Speaker Dade Phelan announced he wouldn’t run for the role again.
Hear more stories from the week in Texas politics in the audio player above.
