The state's three most powerful Republicans were largely in agreement at the top of the session about tightening border security and lowering property taxes. But their animosity and refusal to work together required multiple special sessions, breaking through stalemates, to get that done.
Phelan and Patrick, who presides over the Senate, openly feuded on social media, with Patrick calling on Phelan to resign. And Abbott felt burned by the House’s refusal to pass his priority school vouchers bill after his office had announced a deal with lawmakers.
The animosity spilled over into last year’s primaries where Abbott and Patrick got heavily involved in Texas House races against fellow Republicans – a rare move. Patrick even endorsed and gave a $100,000 donation to Phelan’s primary opponent.
Since then, Phelan has given up the speaker’s gavel and a new speaker, Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock, is looking to change the dynamic among the "Big Three" this session. Burrows, a 10-year veteran of the Legislature is known as one of the best dealmakers in the Capitol and has a close working relationship with Abbott, according to people who have worked with both men, and a mutual respect with Patrick, the fiery leader of the upper chamber who has feuded with past House speakers.
A lot is riding on how quickly the three leaders can adapt to each other. Their ability to successfully navigate the relationship could lead to a quick resolution to this year’s legislative session with the passage of a large chunk of GOP priority bills. If the three fail to harmonize, those bills could stall and the Legislature could be thrown into chaos, requiring multiple overtime sessions.
So far, the three men have projected political alignment and a willingness to work with one another. Despite some strong criticism for Burrows during the race to replace Phelan, Patrick has expressed a wait-and-see attitude to working with the new speaker since his election.
“I’m going to give him a chance,” Patrick said at an event for The Texan news outlet. “He says he’s going to be the most conservative speaker ever so, you know, that would be a great thing for all of us… I’m going to do everything I can to help him succeed. And we’ll see what happens.”
Burrows has also tried to keep the doors for cooperation open, emphasizing his past work with Patrick and Abbott and highlighting their common goals, including several of the governor’s emergency items, like water infrastructure, increased vocational training and, importantly, the passage of a school voucher bill.
“I have enjoyed a respectful working relationship with the Lieutenant Governor since I was first elected to the House in 2015 and have a proven record of successfully working across both chambers to deliver major legislative achievements and conservative priorities,” Burrows said in a statement. “As Speaker, my focus will remain on strengthening the institution of the Texas House, equipping my colleagues to best serve their districts, and working with Governor Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Patrick to advance meaningful solutions to Texans' top legislative priorities — issues on which we are largely aligned.”
The question now is whether the three leaders can turn those words into action.
Long-Standing Relationships
In June 2019, Abbott sat at a burger joint in West Austin and smiled as he signed a priority bill to limit how much counties could increase property tax rates every year.
Sitting to his right was Patrick, who has pushed to cut property taxes for Texas homeowners since joining the Legislature as a senator in 2007. To his left was former Speaker Dennis Bonnen, and in the seat next to him was a 40-year-old Burrows, who had authored the bill in the House and been one of its main negotiators.
That was the year Burrows became a major player in the Legislature. Bonnen tapped him to lead the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee and shepherd Abbott’s priority property tax legislation through the chamber.
People who have worked for Abbott and Burrows said that’s when the close relationship between the two began. They said that Abbott was impressed by Burrows’ handling of the complicated legislation and that Burrows was seemingly in the middle of every big negotiation that session. Those people were granted anonymity to more openly discuss the relationship between the two men.
Abbott endorsed Burrows in his last election and traveled to Lubbock to be at his campaign kick-off, saying the area could not find a politician “whose value sets are more conservative” than their incumbent.
This first published in The Texas Tribune. Read the original here.
