Trump’s first Texas nod backs Phelan’s foe
Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed a GOP activist challenging House Speaker Dade Phelan in the March primary, the latest example of right-wing backlash sparked by the Beaumont Republican’s role in the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
In a post on his social media site, Truth Social, Trump threw his support behind David Covey, an energy consultant and former chair of the Orange County GOP, calling him an “America First Conservative.” Trump, this year’s likely Republican presidential nominee, also accused Phelan of leading the “Fraudulent Impeachment” of Paxton and spurned the House leader’s recent show of support.
“Last week Dade Phelan said, ‘I voted for President Trump twice for President, and I’m going to vote for him a third time. I think he’s going to be the Nominee,’ ” Trump posted. “Words, however, do not mitigate the Absolute Embarrassment Speaker Phelan inflicted upon the State of Texas and our Great Republican Party!”
The endorsement is Trump’s first in Texas this election cycle, and signals yet another major player jumping into a field of competitive Texas House races that could determine the Gopled chamber’s direction.
Paxton, a close Trump ally, was impeached by the Phelan-led state House over charges of bribery and abusing the power of his office to benefit a friend and campaign donor. He was acquitted by the state Senate, the chamber controlled by another of the former president’s political confidants, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.
Phelan has stirred opposition among GOP activists and a handful of openly hostile Republican House members over his role in impeachment, along with the lower chamber’s resistance to certain policies pushed by Patrick and the more conservative Senate, from property taxes to school vouchers. The pushback has come even as the Legislature has passed a cascade of high-profile conservative measures during Phelan’s two terms as speaker, from allowing the “permitless carry” of handguns to banning transition care for transgender minors.
Even with Trump’s support, Covey faces an uphill climb unseating Phelan, who had more than $5.3 million in his campaign account by the end of 2023. Covey had about $24,000 at the same point, though he has since received at least $100,000 from a PAC funded by West Texas oil magnates Tim Dunn and Farris Wilks, the state’s biggest far-right megadonors.
A third candidate, Jasper County resident Alicia Davis, also is running in the GOP primary for Phelan’s House District 21. The seat covers all of Jasper and Orange counties and parts of Jefferson County in the state’s southeast corner.
Trump, whose support is thought to carry weight among Republican primary voters, has taken aim at Phelan several times over the last few years, most recently calling on the speaker to resign in the wake of Paxton’s acquittal. He also previously slammed Phelan for not prioritizing an election audit after his 2020 presidential election loss, in which he carried Texas by the narrowest margin for a Republican presidential nominee since 1996.
In a statement, Phelan downplayed the importance of the endorsement and said he still plans to vote for Trump later this year.
“Trump himself has stated he does not know me nor does he know my record of fighting for Southeast Texans,” Phelan said. “Unfortunately, my opponents have sought this endorsement in yet another attempt to get retribution against me for holding public officials accountable and defending the Texas House against outside interests.”
Phelan previously has suggested that Trump’s hostility was being driven by Patrick, who Trump has credited as the driving force behind his endorsements in Texas.
Patrick, who acted as judge during the impeachment trial, clashed repeatedly with Phelan last year on a range of political and policy disputes and said the speaker was “just flat-out impossible to work with.”
Paxton is also closely aligned with Trump, having waged an unsuccessful legal challenge to his loss in the 2020 presidential election. The attorney general also has endorsed Covey, along with dozens of primary challengers running against Phelan allies who voted to impeach him.
“Great endorsement by @realdonaldtrump for @Coveytx,” Paxton wrote on X. “It’s time for HD 21 to fire @Dadephelan. According to the polling I have seen, sounds like its voters are ready to send him back home.”
Trump previously claimed credit for Paxton’s impeachment acquittal, contending that his eleventh-hour panning of the “shameful” proceedings helped swing the Gop-led Senate to acquit Paxton on all 16 impeachment charges. There is no evidence Trump’s statement played a decisive role in the senators’ decision.