It's an intriguing query given the bitter history between the speaker and AG and the effort Paxton expended in seeing Phelan vanquished.
On Tuesday night as polls closed late at 9 p.m. because of the power outages across the region, Paxton himself didn't seem to know how to feel about the runoff results. His primary foe may have won the nomination, but true to the form that has taken hold in 2024, a number of others indeed fell.
“My message to Austin is clear: to those considering supporting Dade Phelan as Speaker in 2025, ask your 15 colleagues who lost re-election how they feel about their decision now,” Paxton wrote in a statement posted to X. “You will not return if you vote for Dade Phelan again!”
Phelan's overcoming the vocal opposition of Paxton and even former President Donald Trump is noteworthy, but for the AG who's been hellbent on revenge since he was reinstated into office following a successful impeachment defense in September, the wins outweigh the losses.
My message to Austin is clear: to those considering supporting Dade Phelan as Speaker in 2025, ask your 15 colleagues who lost re-election how they feel about their decision now. You will not return if you vote for Dade Phelan again! pic.twitter.com/AkEX9eqUvk
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) May 29, 2024
In North Texas, incumbent GOP representatives who voted to impeach Paxton including Lynn Stucky of Denton and Frederick Frazier of McKinney lost their bids. Paxton and his supporters have regularly referred to Stucky and Frazier as “RINOs” or have lumped them into a nebulous, head-scratching “Phelan Democrats” realm, although both North Texas representatives have long showed their rather distinct conservative bonafides through their hearty support for Republican stances on hot-button issues including guns, restricting abortion and immigration.
In District 33, the Paxton-Trump alliance proved successful as former Trump White House staffer Katrina Pierson defeated incumbent Justin Holland. And yes, before you ask, Paxton called the uber-conservative Holland an “Austin RINO” in a Tuesday night tweet.
If you’ve been keeping up with the ongoing GOP civil war in Texas over the past year, you also know there was another battle being fought. Following the embarrassment of several special sessions in 2023 without passing a school voucher plan, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also pledged to seek revenge against the House Republicans who repeatedly blocked his pet project from being passed.
To that end, Abbott had a less conflicted view of victory on Tuesday night. Thanks to the wins for Pierson and challenger Helen Kerwin in Johnson County, among others, the governor’s revenge tour seems to have reached a triumphant conclusion.
On Tuesday night, Abbott tweeted “The Texas legislature now has enough votes to pass School Choice. Congratulations to all of tonight‘s winners. Together, we will ensure the best future for our children.”
Although the governor touted the wins last night as a sign that his school voucher-like program will become a reality, he has to wait until the next legislative session begins in January to see that become a reality. In 2023, Abbott advocated for what he euphemistically called an “education savings account” that would guarantee families thousands of dollars of state money to go toward private school tuition and other education-related costs. The governor has been vocal about his view that many public school districts in the state are failing and have begun to lean in a liberal direction with curriculum.
Opponents of school vouchers believe public money being used for private education will keep public schools from excelling and will only benefit the families who can already afford private school tuition while harming low-income families and students in small towns and rural areas where private school options are minimal at best.
“The staggering primary defeats suffered by GOP incumbents, previously deemed ultra-conservative, unequivocally demonstrate that MAGA extremists have seized complete control of the Republican Party,” Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said in a statement. “Aspiring oligarchs Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, and Dan Patrick — whose disdain for democratic principles is only surpassed by their thirst for power — may have bought and paid for 15 House seats, but they have handed control to a duo of West Texas oil billionaires.” (He likely was referring to Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, two GOP "megadonors" who have helped push the state's leadership further right.)
On the Democrat side of the runoff elections, the most notable result came in Dallas County, where former sheriff and former gubernatorial candidate Lupe Valdez lost her bid to win back her old job. Incumbent Marian Brown won the nomination handily, taking in about 68% of the vote.
Brown, the county’s first Black sheriff, still faces a department that’s seen a number of problems over the past couple of years, should she win reelection in November. Technical issues regarding payroll and jail overcrowding have drawn negative attention toward Brown’s department. Recently, the county paid $100,000 to a man who was held in custody for longer than he was supposed to be.
The winners of the party primary runoff elections will face their new opponents on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5.
