“The Speaker race is over,” announced Rep. Dennis Bonnen this week at a press conference inside the Texas Capitol, where he released over 100 Texas House members in support of his candidacy. After years of damaging leadership by Speaker Joe Straus, who thwarted many pro-family policy proposals in the State House, Texans are right to wonder if Rep. Bonnen is the right person to take over the helm.

We are hopeful Rep. Bonnen will unleash the great potential of the Texas House of Representatives, and have a couple reasons why:

1. Bonnen sought the Speakership with Republican support. This is a good sign he will govern from a Republican position, rather than make deals with Democrats to squash conservative policy.
2. Of the declared candidates for House Speaker, Rep. Bonnen had one of the highest scores on our Faith and Family Scorecard. In 2017 he had a respectable 86% and voted for our top religious liberty and pro-life bills, while also sponsoring the Texas Privacy Act. He has also received similar scores from other conservative policy organizations. This is in addition to many of the Faith & Family Champions on our scorecard and House Freedom Caucus members supporting Rep. Bonnen’s speakership.
3. Rep. Bonnen appears to have unified all portions of the Republican caucus. He received strong support from a broad base of House Members, and has even issued a joint statement with Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick about working with the Senate, something his predecessor rarely did.

We forward to the future of the Texas State House under this new leadership, and working together with Rep. Bonnen as Speaker to protect and advance faith, family, and freedom for all Texans.