I know nothing about this guy.
Rep. David Cook
Mansfield Republican David Cook said Tuesday he intends to run for Texas House Speaker, becoming the third person to challenge the chamber’s current leader, Beaumont Republican Dade Phelan.
Cook, who has served two terms in the House since 2021, made his announcement in an email to Republican incumbents and nominees seeking election to the chamber next year. The news was first reported by The Texan, a state politics news website.
In his email, Cook committed to naming only Republicans as leaders of House committees, a crucial point to hard right GOP leaders who feel Phelan has ceded too much power to Democrats by continuing the chamber’s long-standing tradition of naming members of both parties to lead the legislative panels.
But Cook said Democrats will “have the opportunity work their bills and see them considered fairly, as preserving the rights of the minority party remains part of facilitating the orderly transactions of business in the Texas House.”
State Reps. Tom Oliverson of Cyprus and Shelby Slawson of Stephenville have also thrown their hats in the ring.
See here and here for some background. Rep. Cook, like Rep. Slawson, is in his second term in the House, which is not usually the profile of a future Speaker. These days, with this Republican Party, I doubt that matters. The main difference I see between Cook and his rivals is that he’s in a relatively purple district; HD96 went 55.2 to 43.6 for Abbott over Beto in 2022. Not particularly competitive, but hardly a deep crimson, and given that it’s in Tarrant County, it’s not impossible to imagine it being on the “districts to watch” list in, say, 2028. That would offer some high comedy if the Speaker were trying to fend off a Democrat for his seat, but suffice it to say several things would have to happen for that to be in play. Anyway, we can put this on the back burner where it belongs until January. The Fort Worth Report has more.
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