Bonnen says he has the votes to be speaker
Angleton Republican promises to prioritize school-finance system in the Texas House
AUSTIN — Houston native and Angleton Republican Dennis Bonnen locked down enough votes to become the next Texas speaker of the House on Monday, promising to focus on reforming the state’s school-finance system.
“We’re here to let you know the speaker’s race is over, and the Texas House is ready to go to work,” Bonnen told reporters at the Texas Capitol.
Bonnen, 46, said he has 109 other members of the 150-member House who have signed on to support him for House speaker. That list includes at least 67 current House Republicans, with almost the entire conservative Freedom Caucus. He needs a majority of the House members to elect him on the first day of the Legislative Session in January to secure the post.
The announcement comes after other key contenders gave up the fight. State Reps. Four Price of Amarillo, Phil King of Weatherford, Tan Parker of Flower Mound and Eric Johnson of Dallas all announced over the last three days they were pulling out of the race. Rep. John Zerwas of Richmond dropped out in October. The two remaining contenders, Reps. Travis Clardy of Nacogdoches and Drew Darby of San Angelo, dropped out Monday.
Bonnen would take over a Texas House in which Republicans lost 12 seats on Election Day. Republicans still have more seats than Democrats, but the margin is 83 to 67.
Bonnen said his colleagues in the House will dictate the priorities, but after talking to members, he knows one top issue already.
“I can guarantee you that a priority is school finance,” Bonnen said. “It is time Texas took on the challenge of fixing our broken school-finance system.”
Bonnen was at the center of the property tax reform negotiations in the Texas Legislature in 2017 that ultimately failed to pass. While the Senate pushed for caps on how much cities and counties could raise property taxes, Bonnen pushed for transparency measures that would give homeowners clearer information about which government agencies were responsible for the hikes. The two chambers never came to an agreement.
With Bonnen as House speaker, both chambers of the Texas Legislature would be under the leadership of Republicans from Southeast Texas for the first time.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversees the Senate, has lived in Houston and now lives in Montgomery County. The last time Southeast Texas had both top spots was in the early 1970s when Houston’s William Hobby Jr., a Democrat, was lieutenant governor overseeing the Senate and Price Daniel Jr., a Liberty County Democrat, was speaker.
Top Straus lieutenant
After the 2017 legislative session, House Speaker Joe Straus declared he would not run for reelection. The speaker sets the pace, tone and direction of the House, appointing fellow members to key legislative committees that will vet hundreds of bills during the legislative session that begins in January.
Republicans in the tea partyaligned House Freedom Caucus often took aim at Straus. Centrists and Democrats praised Straus and his committee chairmen for blocking legislation such as the so-called bathroom bill that would have forced transgender people to use bathrooms opposite of the gender with which they identify. More conservative members of the House blamed him for committees refusing to advance several of their key bills.
But while Bonnen was a top Straus lieutenant, Bonnen’s bid for Speaker has been supported by some of Straus’ biggest critics in the House.
Ten of the 11 returning members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, including chairman Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, are among those who are publicly backing Bonnen, as are 31 Democrats. In total, 78 Republicans (including House members-elect) have announced support for Bonnen.
“I think that Rep. Bonnen is going to return the power to the members,” said Jordan Berry, a political consultant representing about a dozen Republican House members, including some from the Freedom Caucus. “I think everyone’s hopeful that we can get things done.”
Empower Texans, a conservative group that clashed frequently with Straus, lauded Bonnen for his approach to running for speaker. Empower Texans CEO Michael Q. Sullivan told followers on social media that Bonnen sought to win the GOP caucus instead of trying to court Democrats and just enough Republicans to become speaker.
“That should be very reassuring to @TexasGOP activists,” he wrote on Twitter.
A little more than half of the chamber’s Democrats have not offered their support to Bonnen, including Chris Turner, the House Democratic Caucus chairman.
“House Democrats remain committed, as we always have, to working with anyone who is willing to put the voters of Texas first, said Turner, from Grand Prairie. “We expect any Speaker to let members represent their district, and to prioritize real solutions for all Texans.”
Call for unity
Bonnen offered reassurance to members of the House who have not pledged to support him yet. Speaking at a Monday news conference, Bonnen said all 150 members of the House will be part of the team.
“Whether their name is on the list or not is unimportant,” Bonnen said. “We’re going to be the House. When the House stands together, it does great things.”
Bonnen said the House stands ready to work with Gov. Greg Abbott, Patrick and the Senate.
“I know from my dealings with Chairman Bonnen that no one works harder or more passionately for Texas,” Abbott said in a statement. “There are a number of important and pressing issues facing Texas as we head into this next legislative session, including reforming school finance and elevating our education system, and I look forward to working (with) the new Speaker and the entire House of Representatives to address these topics and much more.”
Bonnen has served in the Texas House for more than 20 years. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Edward’s University in Austin and was elected to the House in 1996 at just 24 years old. The married father of two is the CEO and chairman of the board of Heritage Bank.