Straus mum about future
WHAT’S NEXT?: Departing speaker leaves door open to possible race for governor
AUSTIN — State House Speaker Joe Straus — championed by moderates as their best hope for stopping Texas from passing divisive social issues into law — announced unexpectedly Wednesday he will not seek re-election and left the door open to a possible run for governor.
The San Antonio Republican said he plans to make his voice heard in a more vocal way but declined to say how. While Straus said he would “highly doubt” he will appear anywhere on a 2018 ballot, he said he didn’t want to rule out a possible statewide race.
“I’m not one to close doors,” he said.
What Straus would commit to was taking the opportunity to speak his mind in a way he hadn’t before after spending five terms overseeing the House chamber of 150 members, most of whom are embroiled in a tumultuous struggle over the heart and soul of the Re-
“A confident leader knows when it’s time to give it back.” Joe Straus, House speaker
publican Party.
The speaker this legislative session spoke out against the Senate’s effort to pass the socalled bathroom bill that would have restricted transgender people to using the bathroom that aligns with the sex on their birth certificate. He also pushed hard for education funding reforms that ultimately fell flat in the Senate. The result was a constant war of words between the two chamber leaders and the holding hostage of major policy reforms.
Straus plans to serve out the remaining 14 months of his House term representing a north San Antonio district and the finishing out his speakership. He said he will still spend this year’s election cycle supporting “responsible Republicans who face challenges in the primary.”
Supporters suggest daily that he run for another office, he said.
“I don’t have plans to do that, but I will be looking forward to speaking out more and more on issues that I think are important for people. What that leads to, we’ll have to see,” he said.
Straus acknowledged his name ID among voters statewide is low. He called that a fact that “brings me back to Earth once in a while when I see that.”
Unlike the lieutenant governor, the House speaker is a state representative elected by his peers in that chamber.
Between lower name recognition and his position to the left of tea party Republicans, Straus is unlikely to have a viable chance to win election statewide, said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science expert teaching at the University of Houston. Straus represents a wing of the Republican Party that is likely to be out-voted by more conservative voters of the party, he said.
“I don’t think money is the problem. It’s just the perception that he’s too liberal for Republican ideas of Texas,” said Rottinghaus.
Instead, the soon-to-be retired speaker could position himself as a supporter of candidates challenging conservative Republicans from the center, he said.
“In the future, when there are more distinct coalitions of moderate Republicans who are challenging more conservative Republicans, you can see Straus as a potential future kingmaker,” said Rottinghaus. Political frenzy
Straus’ decision to make this term his last in the House came as a surprise after the speaker had said in May he planned to run again for the leadership post. Last month, he said of people bucking him for the gavel, “bring it.”
His departure from the House after the 2018 election leaves the seat up for grabs in 2019 after years of mounting Republican infighting between conservative and moderate factions over prolife issues, bathroom policies, state spending and property tax policies.
Tea party Republicans with a taste for more conservative policies have occupied a growing share in the Texas Legislature for much of the last decade while Straus, a business-minded moderate, ran the chamber. This term marks his fifth, trying him with two previous speakers — both Democrats — for the longest tenure leading the chamber.
Within hours of Straus’ announcement, his ally chairing the powerful Appropriations Committee announced he was running for the seat. Rep. John Zerwas, a Richmond Republican, promised to offer members leadership roles in sync with the values of their constituents.
Rep. Phil King, a Republican from Weatherford who announced in September he is running for speaker, said Wednesday he wants to “ensure that members can serve the interests of Texans in a transparent, productive and functional environment where all views are heard.”
Straus frequently butted heads with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Gov. Greg Abbott and the conservative 12-member Freedom Caucus in his chamber. Patrick, one of Straus’ staunches critics, thanked the speaker for his service and added, “any man who enters the arena deserves respect.”
Also out is a top Straus lieutenant in the House, Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, who chairs the state affairs committee.
“It is an honor to represent the families of Anderson, Freestone, Hill, and Navarro Counties in the Texas House of Representatives,” Cook said in a statement published by the Quorum Report. “However, I will not seek a 9th term in the upcoming March 2018 Republican primary for the Texas House of Representatives. Instead, I will pursue other opportunities to serve our great state.”
News of Straus’ eventual departure was met with excitement by his critics and conservatives immediately hailed it as an opportunity for them to push even harder for passage of some of their key proposals.
“But now isn’t the time to celebrate, it’s time to escalate,” said Michael Quinn Sullivan who leads Empower Texans, a conservative group critical of the speaker, encouraging supporters to donate to efforts to defeat the speaker’s other allies in next year’s primary election. “Straus’ abrupt departure is a signal that the battle for Texas is going to get hotter.” Split on values
From the start of his tenure as speaker, Straus has been on the wrong side on key issues, said State Rep. Matt Schaefer, a Tyler Republican who leads the Texas Freedom Caucus. He said in the first year, Straus was quoted in the media as not supporting overturning Roe v Wade, the landmark abortion case that affirmed abortion rights in the United States.
“He did not share our ProLife values,” Schaefer said, adding that any anti-abortion legislation that passed was always “in spite of Joe Straus, not because of him.
“He positioned himself against Dan Patrick and Gov. Abbott. Imagine what could happen if they had a partner. Overall we are a Republican state and we are electing conservative legislators, but we haven’t governed that way,” said Schaefer.
He said the caucus is working to impose new rules on the Republican caucus within the House to assure only Republicans get to nominate a candidate for speaker, preventing Democrats from playing a role in electing a speaker like they did with Straus in 2009.
Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie, chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, praised Straus’ leadership and said Democrats will have their say in electing the next speaker.
“His deliberative approach to public policy will be truly missed, as will the inclusive manner in which he ran the House,” he said. “Under Speaker Straus, the House led the way on a number of bipartisan accomplishments, including public school accountability reform, water infrastructure and mental health access.”
State Sen. Joan Huffman, a Houston Republican, said it is clear big changes are coming to the relationship between the House and the Senate, depending on who becomes the next Speaker.
“I think it changes the dynamics between the House and the Senate in huge ways,” Huffman said.
Huffman said holds Straus partly accountable for helping push Fort Bend ISD president Kristin Tassin into running against her in 2018 in a GOP primary. Earlier this year, Straus gave a speech to an audience in which he praised Tassin individually and later encouraged people in the room to run for office to change the direction of the government.