The last Late Night Coffee Talk of the year landed in the middle of the messiest Texas House speaker fight in recent memory, and Daniel Miller spent most of the evening unpacking it. He walked through how Texas got here, from the coup that toppled Tom Craddick and installed Joe Strauss, through Dennis Bonnen and Dade Phelan, to the December 7 Republican caucus meeting where Dustin Burrows failed to clear the threshold, walked out with a small group of Republicans and a coalition of Democrats, and then held a press conference declaring himself speaker-elect anyway. Miller called the spectacle surreal, comparing Burrows to a man insisting he is Spartacus, and noted Governor Abbott had just publicly refused to let his photo be used to imply an endorsement.
Miller’s read was two-sided. In the short term, a Burrows speakership propped up by Democrats would be painful for the movement and for Texans generally. In the long term, he argued, every Republican who signs on with that coalition paints a target on himself for the next primary under the strengthened Rule 44 censure mechanism and the push for closed primaries. The freshman class already tells the story: nine incoming freshmen are Texas First Pledge signers, most of whom knocked off incumbents who counted on Phelan’s protection and did not get it.
Asked for a status report on the movement, Miller laid out the four-part TEXIT blueprint and said capacity building is going well. The field organization has restructured around counties, with roughly 60 now being organized, covering some 72 to 73 percent of the state’s voting population. International engagement is growing, with another movement to the north now asking the TNM to consult. He was blunt about the weak spot: fundraising has been abysmal heading into a critical legislative session, forcing hard choices about what work gets cut. He also announced that Late Night Coffee Talk returns to a weekly schedule after the first of the year, and that TNM Insiders are getting full access to the recorded TEXIT Blueprint course from the Greenville event.
Questions answered in this episode
- What is your take on the Cook versus Burrows fight for Texas House speaker, and how did Burrows end up declaring himself speaker-elect?
- What do you think of Brisco Cain’s HB 274, which proposes that the state govern the City of Austin?
- Did being interviewed on Dr. Phil give you any pause?
- Can you give a summary of the current status and priorities of the TNM’s plans?
- Will a successful Department of Government Efficiency effort delay TEXIT?
- After TEXIT, what happens to ongoing federal DOJ and FBI investigations in Texas?
- How do we actually become independent. Do we have to go to war, or can it be done peacefully?
Comments have moved. The real debate about Texas independence now happens with thousands of Texians in the app.
Get the TEXIAN app
