Day One Recap: Power Struggles At The Texas Capitol

The Speaker showdown steals the spotlight.

The 2025 Texas legislative session kicked off with plenty of drama, from high-stakes leadership votes to surprise moments that left the chamber buzzing. With a Speaker’s race that highlighted deep party divides and strategic maneuvering, day one set the stage for what’s sure to be a contentious session. Here’s a breakdown of all the actions the House and Senate took on opening day.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of what happened today, a few quick things:

1. Comptroller Glenn Hager announced yesterday that Texas is entering the Legislative session with a $23.76 billion surplus. In the last session, the surplus was $32 billion, which was spent to lower the property tax rate.

2. The Washington Post reported that Beto O’Rourke was considering running for Chair of the Texas Democratic Party. I screeched when I heard that. This job heavily involves organizing and fundraising, and no Democrat has been more successful in Texas at those two things than Beto. Plus, he’s been on the frontlines of state races and has seen firsthand what needs to be done. This is very exciting. But I promised I’d wait until after all candidates declared to share commentary. I just thought you’d want to know.

Day One - Opening Ceremonies - Texas House.

In both the House and the Senate, members were sworn in. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick led the Senate, and Secretary of State Jane Nelson led the House until the Speaker’s race.

Secretary of State Jane Nelson

After the members were sworn in, Representative Venton Jones (D-HD100) proposed to his longtime partner Gregory Scott JR. 💍He said yes!

Congratulations to the happy couple! 🥂

On to the Speaker’s race. The nominees were (alphabetically):

• Ana-Maria Ramos (D-HD102)

• David Cook (R-HD96)

• Dustin Burrows (R-HD83)

Here are the rules that were laid out for the House Speaker’s race.

The nominations:

Christina Morales (D-HD145), nominated Ana-Maria Ramos.

Trent Ashby (R-HD09) nominated David Cook:

Some of the “Seconding” speeches in favor of David Cook, which I thought were boring—but, if you’re interested:

• Ellen Troxclair (R-HD19) seconds David Cook’s nomination.

• James Franks (R-HD69) seconds David Cook’s nomination.

Charlie Geren (R-HD99) nominates Dustin Burrows. Geren called out the billionaires bankrolling Cook’s side (Tim Dunn). It was a sharp criticism that needed to be said from the right.

John Bryant (D-HD114) seconded Ana-Maria Ramos’ nomination.

Mihaela Plesa (D-HD70) seconded Dustin Burrows’ nomination and reminded her Republican peers that Democrats were elected and the House belonged to the people, not Tim Dunn.

Jolanda Jones (D-HD147) seconded Ana-Maria Ramos’ nomination.

Toni Rose (D-HD110) seconded Dustin Burrows’ nomination.

Ana-Maria Ramos seconded her own nomination.

Lacey Hull (R-HD138) seconded Dustin Burrows’ nomination. Y’all know I’m not a huge fan of Hull’s, but kudos to her for her speech. She told her fellow Republicans that grassroots activism doesn’t happen on Twitter and spoke about how Republican voters were being propagandized by Nazi billionaires (paraphrasing).

This last one is a major disappointment. A few days ago, we discussed Richard Raymond’s (D-HD42) alliance with the far-right Republicans, who signed a contract to exclude Democrats from the legislative process. Yesterday, some members of the SDEC were threatening censure. Not only was Raymond not bothered, he even went to the mic and gave a speech in favor of David Cook’s nomination.

His rationale was that Cook would work with Democrats (he didn’t mention the contract) and that Dustin Burrows was pro-Confederate. At the end of Raymond’s speech, he even had words for the SDEC.

NEWSFLASH: All Conservatives are pro-Confederate; they have been since 1861; they just happen to belong to the Republican Party now.

Democrats are in the minority, and they either had to pick a side or let Republicans fight it out. If they let Republicans fight it out, the chances that one of the “Contract on Texas” Republicans would win Speaker increased. Yes, Dustin Burrows is a post-capitalism fascist, as most Texas Republicans are, but he didn’t make a promise to shut 62 House members out of the Legislative Process. Burrows was the lesser of two evils.

The vote.

The first round of votes went off without a hitch, but no one reached the 76 votes required to win. Here were the votes:

• Dustin Burrows - 71

• David Cook - 56

• Ana-Maria Cook - 23

It should be noted that some Democratic activists were pushing for House Democrats to vote for Ana-Maria Ramos at least in the first round, knowing she would lose, then vote for a Republican in the next round.

Since no one received the majority vote, Ramos was out, and the second vote would be between Cook and Burrows. The votes were:

• Dustin Burrows - 85

• David Cook - 55

Nine Democrats voted ‘present.’

The only Democrats who crossed the aisle to vote for David Cook were:

• Richard Raymond

• Sergio Muñoz (D-HD36)

• Ana-Maria Ramos

I don’t know why Ramos would have voted for Cook, but I think it was accidentally. Perhaps she was trying to save her peers from censure. Or maybe she felt David Cook was the lesser of two evils. Again, I don’t know, but it’s probably a question she will answer soon.

Here is Dustin Burrows’ acceptance speech.

Dustin Burrows is now the Speaker of the Texas House. Democrats will have to work with him while busting their butts to obstruct the far-right. It’s not ideal, but we’re in the minority.

The far-right is especially angry right now. Republican Party of Texas Chairman Abraham George called Burrows “the Democrat choice.” We should love this for them.

Day One - Opening Ceremonies - Texas Senate.

The Senate’s session today was much shorter than the House’s and, truth be told, much less dramatic. Governor Greg Abbott usually gives an opening day speech to both the House and the Senate, but today, he only gave a speech in the Senate—probably because the Speaker election took too long.

Abbott’s main priorities this session will be bail reform and vouchers.

Brandon Creighton (R-SD04), author of the racist anti-DEI bill from last session, was elected President Pro Tempore of the Texas Senate, which is third in line after the Dean of the Senate.

Considering Creighton is basically a hillbilly in a $10,000 suit, it’s just another stark reminder of how much it sucks to be in the minority of the Texas Legislature.

Nothing else exciting happened in the Senate today.

That’s a wrap on the first day of the Texas legislative session.

The House and Senate will reconvene tomorrow to discuss rules, setting the tone for the rest of the session. Once that unfolds, I’ll have an update for you.

We’re still waiting on committee assignments, which could take a while in the House. Without those assignments, hearings won’t begin, which means the real work of shaping legislation is still on hold. However, tomorrow’s House rules debate could bring more fireworks, as Republicans may attempt to implement measures to limit Democratic participation in the legislative process further.

Buckle up—it’s only the beginning.

• March 14: The last day Legislators can file bills.

• June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.

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