Gov. signaled support for state Rep. of Mansfield for speaker of the Texas House in a on Wednesday.
The post didn鈥檛 mention Cook or his challenger, state Rep. , R-Lubbock, by name but said the next speaker needs to be chosen by a 鈥渕ajority of Republicans in accordance with the Republican Caucus Rules.鈥�
This low-key endorsement could dash Burrows' campaign to be the next speaker. Shortly , Burrows declared he had the necessary votes 鈥� from Republicans and Democrats 鈥� to win the gavel, but has since been losing supporters.
Any speaker hopeful would need to assemble a coalition of at least 76 House members to win control of the 150-member House.
Burrows had released a list of 76 supporters 鈥� 38 Republicans and 38 Democrats. Three members said they should not be on the list; others have withdrawn support for Burrows in the past week.
Cook has sought to oust current House Speaker , a Beaumont Republican, for months. Phelan dropped out a day before the caucus voted for their speaker choice. Burrows, a top Phelan ally, filed late Thursday night as Phelan exited the race.
Cook was declared the endorsed candidate by the House GOP Caucus on Saturday by a vote of 48-14 after a contingent of Burrows鈥� supporters dramatically left the meeting after the two rivals had stalemated in the first two rounds. A caveat is that,, all 88 GOP caucus members are tied to vote for the endorsed candidate. Other Republicans outside the chamber have weighed in on the public fight for the gavel.
After the caucus meeting, Burrows claimed victory, saying 鈥淭he speaker鈥檚 race is over.鈥�
Lt. Gov. Abbott in 鈥渁ffirming that a majority of Republican House members must choose the Speaker.鈥�
鈥淎ny Republican Speaker candidate who attempts a coup d鈥櫭﹖at to steal the speaker鈥檚 gavel with a majority of Democrats and only a handful of Republicans will never be accepted by Republican voters,鈥� Patrick wrote on X.
Roughly 80 state county GOP chairs 鈥� led by Tarrant County 鈥� calling the behavior of state house Republicans who support Burrows for Texas House speaker an 鈥渦nacceptable betrayal鈥� and urging every Republican House lawmaker to publicly support Cook for speaker instead.
Donald Trump Jr. also posted support for Cook as House speaker in an .
鈥淚t鈥檚 unbelievable what is happening in Texas right now. There is a group of so-called Republicans cutting a deal with liberal Democrats to elect a speaker instead of uniting behind the Republican nominee,鈥� Trump Jr wrote on X. 鈥淯nbelievable! Republicans have a mandate!鈥�
This article originally appeared in at .
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