Speaker Burrows Delivers for Democrats
Speaker Dustin Burrows announced committee assignments for the Texas House on February 13 and Democrats couldn’t be happier.
February 25, 2025 | Media Inquiries: press@mctxgop.org
Speaker Dustin Burrows announced committee assignments for the Texas House on February 13, granting Democrats more power than ever before. Fifty-eight percent of Democrats were awarded leadership positions, compared with only 40 percent of Republicans.
A full list of committee assignments is available here.
Burrows Appoints a Far-Left Speaker Pro Tem
Speaker Burrows also appointed Rep. Joe Moody (D-El Paso) as Speaker Pro Tempore. In the Texas House, the Speaker Pro Tem serves as the second-ranking officer and presides over the House in the absence of the Speaker. Historically, serving as Speaker Pro Tem can position a member as a potential candidate for Speaker in the future and help the member get re-elected in their district.
This is Rep. Moody’s third appointment as Speaker Pro Tem by “Republican” Speakers, having previously served under Dennis Bonnen and Dade Phelan. After immense pressure from grassroots Republicans, Phelan had to remove Rep. Moody from the position in 2021 when he and a group of fellow Democrats fled the Texas House to Washington, D.C., to break quorum and kill an election integrity bill.
Rep. Moody is a leftist who has supported Black Lives Matter (BLM), promoted gun control, and authored legislation to abolish the death penalty (HB 142) and require firearm sales reporting (HB 22).
In a 2021 article calling the January 6th protest “sedition,” Rep. Moody said:
“Donald Trump and his shameless Texas cronies like Ted Cruz and Ken Paxton have betrayed American values and sold their souls for fleeting political power. Their message of division — a cynical one I know they themselves don’t even believe in — has directly led to tragedies like the racially motivated mass murder of 23 El Pasoans just last year. They’ve sown the seeds of a violence they could never control that sprouted into outright domestic terrorism at our Capitol yesterday.”
Does this sound like someone a Republican Speaker of the Texas House should be appointing to ANY leadership position, much less the second-ranking officer in the Texas House?
Rep. Moody’s appointment is a slap in the face of Texas Republican voters who worked hard to expand the House majority in November 2024 (88 Republicans to 62 Democrats) with the expectation that Republicans would run the Texas House during the 89th Legislative Session.
Meet the Texas House Speaker Pro Tem, Democrat Rep. Joe Moody of El Paso.
Immediately after Speaker Burrows announced committee assignments, Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu released a statement expressing his appreciation for Speaker Burrows’ “bipartisan leadership.”
Giving Democrats a Raise
In addition to the power granted to Democrats via committee and subcommittee assignments, the Texas House Administration Committee unanimously approved significant increases to legislative office budgets. This was the first time such increases were made without a full vote on the House floor. In an unprecedented move, Speaker Burrows declared a floor vote unnecessary.
According to Texas Scorecard Senior Editor, Brandon Waltens, “The 30 Democrat vice chairs of committees will receive an additional $5,000 per month, totaling an extra $3.6 million over the biennium. The vice chairs previously did not receive stipends.” That's your taxpayer dollars at work for the Democrats!
Rep. Nate Schatzline (R-Fort Worth) blasted the decision, stating on X, “For the 1st time, House Administration just gave 30 Dem Vice Chair offices a $5k/month raise…WITHOUT a vote of the body!! This leadership team is committed to backroom deals…I’m committed to exposing them.”
How Did This Happen?
Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) was elected Speaker of the Texas House on January 14 in a contentious vote. While the Republican Caucus had voted for Rep. David Cook (R-Mansfield) as the caucus nominee, Burrows circumvented the caucus bylaws and secured the speakership with a coalition of 49 Democrats and 36 Republicans, defeating Cook 85-55 in a runoff vote.
This reliance on Democratic support was a direct betrayal of Republican Caucus Bylaws. The minority group of 36 Republicans turned their backs on the 55 Republicans in the majority and their grassroots voters who, for years, have loudly called for the elimination of Democratic influence in the House.
Montgomery County’s own Representatives Will Metcalf and Cecil Bell voted for Burrows with the Republican minority and the Democrats. Representatives Steve Toth and Janice Holt voted with the Republican Caucus. We encourage voters to contact Rep. Toth and Rep. Holt to thank them!
Gaslighting the Grassroots
One of the first major actions under Burrows’ leadership was the adoption of new House rules on January 23, passed by a vote of 116-23. These rules set in place the framework for a gaslighting campaign as big as Texas against Republican voters.
The new House rules require all standing committee chairs to be members of the majority party (Republicans), but sneak in a mandate that all vice chairs of standing committees be Democrats. The new rules also create 12 new permanent subcommittees with Democrats appointed to chair half of them. These subcommittees are granted essentially the same power as standing committees.
Additionally, the rules expand the powers of vice chairs, granting them authority to request public hearings on bills or topics, invite witnesses to testify, and request research from legislative staff.
As soon as the rules passed, an onslaught of social media posts, texts, and emails ensued, focused on the claim that the Texas House had banned Democrat chairs—a key Texas GOP legislative priority—while downplaying or reframing the appointment of Democrats to influential roles like vice chairs and subcommittee chairs. This restructuring of the House is an attempt at willful voter deception by putting in place Democrat gatekeepers for House bills.
In reality, Democrats now have more power in the Texas House than ever before.
Image from Texas Scorecard: House Committee Assignments Keep Democrats in Power.
For more information on the situation in the Texas House, watch the video below featuring Texas Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Waxahachie) and Republican National Committeewoman Debbie Georgatos.
Censure Resolutions
The Montgomery County Republican Party delivered censure resolutions to Montgomery County State Representatives Will Metcalf and Cecil Bell on February 25 in Austin. The County Executive Committee (CEC) will be voting on the resolutions at the CEC meeting on March 4. Rep. Metcalf and Rep. Bell will be given the opportunity to speak at this meeting. The public is welcome to attend.
What Can Republican Voters Do Now?
We encourage you to engage with our social media and sign up for our legislative alert emails to support Republican Legislative Priorities.
You can follow our action alerts and bill tracking on our website here.
If you would like to join our Legislative Committee, please contact Legislative Chair Adrian Kaiser at adriankaisertexas@gmail.com.
The only way to navigate the fog will be to stay laser-focused on the Republican Legislative Priorities this session and judge success by the bills actually signed by Governor Abbott.
Ultimately, we must vote Speaker Burrows and the “Turncoat Caucus” out of office in the next Primary Election. If we don’t, they will be back to undermine Republican voters again in 2026. Register to vote or check your registration status here.
In the words of President Trump, “FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!”