Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed a challenger to Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who has drawn the ire of Republicans across the state and nationally after supporting the impeachment of the Texas attorney general. Ken Paxton, last year.
David Covey, who is running against Phelan in the 21st District of the Texas State House of Representatives, now has the endorsement of Trump and Paxton ahead of the GOP primary in March.
“David Covey is running against Dade Phelan, the Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, who led the fraudulent impeachment of the recently re-elected and landslide Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton,” Trump said in a post on Truth. Social. “David is an America-first conservative who will secure the border, restore election integrity, protect our families and military/veterans, and defend our Second Amendment under siege.”
The Texas House impeached Paxton last May with Phelan’s support, but the state Senate acquitted him of corruption and abuse of power charges in September. Trump had called on Phelan to resign following Paxton’s acquittal.
“I have voted for President Trump twice and plan to vote for him a third time. “Trump himself has stated that he does not know me or my record of fighting for Southeast Texans,” President Phelan said Tuesday in a statement. “Unfortunately, my opponents have sought this endorsement in another attempt to exact retaliation against me for holding public officials accountable and defending the Texas House of Representatives against outside interests.”
The former president’s move came less than a week after Phelan announced his endorsement of the Trump campaign. Trump solidified his status as a frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential election after winning the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary.
“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 will be the nominee.” Words, however, do not mitigate the utter shame President Phelan inflicted on the state of Texas and our Great Republican Party! Trump said in his Truth Social post.
Paxton, a staunch Trump ally, has been heavily involved in the effort to unseat Phelan, appearing in the election campaign and in television advertisements on behalf of Covey.
“Dade has lost its way and is more beholden to the Democrats who elected its president than to the people who elected him to fight for them,” Paxton says in an ad.
Meanwhile, Phelan has tried to tout his conservative credentials on guns, the border and transgender issues.
In a Phelan campaign ad which began airing before Trump announced his endorsement, two Texas Republican county chairmen, Leo LaBauve and Joe Evans, warn against “negative attack ads” from “people who don’t even live here.”