:Dade Phelan

Phelan is a 1994 graduate of Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School in Beaumont and a 1998 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.

From 2021 through 2024, Phelan was Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. He was previously Chair of the House Committee on State Affairs, on the Natural Resources Committee as Vice-Chair, the Calendars Committee, the Appropriations Committee, Elections Committee as well as the Select Committee on Ports, Innovation and Infrastructure. He is also a founding member of the House Criminal Justice Reform Caucus.{{cite web |last1=McCullough |first1=Jolie |title=After defeats in 2019, a group of Texas lawmakers is teaming up to push criminal justice reform |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2019/07/18/texas-house-criminal-justice-reform-caucus/ |website=The Texas Tribune |access-date=December 4, 2020 |language=en |date=July 18, 2019}}

Texas Monthly recognized Phelan as one of the best legislators of 2019.{{cite web |last1=Sanchez |first1=Carlos |last2=Ratcliffe |first2=R.G. |last3=Hooks |first3=Christopher |title=2019: The Best and Worst Legislators |url=https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/2019-the-best-and-worst-texas-legislators/ |website=Texas Monthly |access-date=December 4, 2020 |language=en |date=June 18, 2019}}

On December 2, 2020, Phelan was traveling in a private plane to meet Representative Trent Ashby when it crashed on landing during a rainstorm at Angelina County Airport near Lufkin, Texas. There were no serious injuries.{{cite web |title=Incoming Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan On Plane That Skidded Off Airport Runway |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/news/incoming-texas-house-speaker-dade-phelan-plane-skidded-off-runway/ |website=CBS DFW |access-date=December 4, 2020 |date=December 3, 2020}}

On January 12, 2021, Phelan was elected the 76th Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

On August 12, 2021, Phelan signed arrest warrants for the 52 Democratic lawmakers who had left the state to deny a quorum. The lawmakers were attempting to block the passage of legislation considered by certain civil rights groups to restrict voting access to voters of color.Multiple sources:

• {{cite news |author1=Eva Ruth Moravec |author2=Elise Viebeck |title=Texas House speaker signs arrest warrants for Democrats who broke quorum over voting restrictions |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/texas-house-speaker-signs-arrest-warrants-for-democrats-who-broke-quorum-over-voting-restrictions/2021/08/10/fd739c52-fa12-11eb-943a-c5cf30d50e6a_story.html |newspaper=Washington Post |date=12 August 2021}}
• {{cite web |last1=Ura |first1=Alexa |title=Texas GOP's voting restrictions bill could be rewritten behind closed doors after final House passage |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2021/05/07/texas-voting-restrictions/ |publisher=The Texas Tribune |language=en |date=2021-05-07|quote=But both the original SB 7 and the original provisions of HB 6 were opposed by civil rights groups who raised the prospect that the legislation violates federal safeguards for voters of color. Republicans’ efforts to further restrict voting in the state come as their presidential margins of victory continue to thin and Democrats drive up their votes in diverse urban centers and growing suburban communities.}}
• {{cite web |last1=Ura |first1=Alexa |title=Texas Republicans begin pursuing new voting restrictions as they work to protect their hold on power |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/22/texas-republicans-voting-restrictions/ |publisher=The Texas Tribune |language=en |date=2021-03-22 |quote=Senate Bill 7 is part of a broader package of proposals to constrain local initiatives widening voter access in urban areas, made up largely by people of color, that favor Democrats.}}
• {{cite web |title=New GOP-led voting restrictions move forward in Texas |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-voting-laws-republicans/ |publisher=CBS News/AP |date=1 April 2021 |quote=The bill is one of two major voting packages in Texas that mirrors a nationwide campaign by Republicans after former President Donald Trump made false claims about election fraud. Voting rights groups say the measures would disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minority voters.}}
• {{cite web |last1=Wines |first1=Michael |title=Texas lawmakers advance a bill that would make voting more difficult, drawing comparisons to Georgia. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/01/us/texas-voting-restrictions.html |work=The New York Times |date=2021-04-01 |quote=Critics of the Senate bill said most of its provisions were less about making voting secure than about making it harder, particularly for urban voters and minority voters, two groups that tend to vote for Democrats.}}
• {{cite web |last1=Barragán |first1=James |title=In overnight vote, Texas Senate passes bill that would make it harder to vote |url=https://www.dallasnews.com/news/politics/2021/04/01/texas-senate-on-track-to-pass-bill-that-would-make-it-harder-to-vote/ |publisher=Dallas Morning News |language=en |date=2021-04-01 |quote=[President of the Texas Civil Rights Project] said many of the bill’s provisions would disproportionately affect voters of color. The extended voting hours in Harris County, for example, were mostly used by voters of color. Fifty-six percent of voters who cast ballots in late night hours were Black, Hispanic or Asian, according to the Texas Civil Rights Project.}}
• {{cite web |last1=Coronado |first1=Acacia |title=EXPLAINER: How Texas Republicans aim to make voting harder |url=https://apnews.com/article/tx-state-wire-donald-trump-texas-senate-elections-voting-ef82918d28024d7abe09277c4c2534fe |publisher=Associated Press |date=2021-05-30 |quote=Advocates say the changes would disproportionately affect minorities and people with disabilities.}}
• {{cite news |last1=Gardner |first1=Amy |title=How the new Texas voting bill would create hurdles for voters of color |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/05/30/texas-voting-law/ |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en |date=2021-05-30 |quote=While Senate Bill 7 would have wide-ranging effects on voters across the state, it includes specific language that critics say would disproportionately affect people of color — particularly those who live in under-resourced and urban communities.}}
• {{cite web |author1=Jasper Scherer |author2=Zach Despart |title=GOP bills target Harris County's efforts to expand voting. Here's how that played out in the 2020 election |url=https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/GOP-bills-target-Harris-County-s-efforts-to-16143213.php |publisher=Houston Chronicle |date=1 May 2021 |quote=Voting rights experts say the bills — which include measures that would apply only to the state’s most populous counties, all of which are predominantly nonwhite — would discriminate against voters of color.}}
• {{cite web |author1=Nick Corasaniti |title=Republicans Target Voter Access in Texas Cities, but Not Rural Areas |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/24/us/politics/texas-republicans-voting.html |work=New York Times |date=24 April 2021 |quote=The Republican focus on diverse urban areas, voting activists say, evokes the state’s history of racially discriminatory voting laws — including poll taxes and “white primary” laws during the Jim Crow era — that essentially excluded Black voters from the electoral process. Most of Harris County’s early voters were white, according to a study by the Texas Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit group. But the majority of those who used drive-through or 24-hour voting — the early voting methods the Republican bills would prohibit — were people of color, the group found.}}
• {{cite web |author1=Paul J. Weber |title=Houston's expanded voting becomes target of GOP restrictions |url=https://www.chron.com/politics/article/Houston-expanded-voting-becomes-GOP-target-16104581.php |date=15 April 2021 |quote=The effort is one of the clearest examples of how the GOP’s nationwide campaign to tighten voting laws can target Democrats, even as they insist the measures are not partisan. With Americans increasingly sorted into liberal urban areas and conservative rural ones, geography can be an effective proxy for partisanship. Proposals tailored to cities or that take population into account are bound to have a greater impact on Democratic voters.; The county exemplifies the GOP's slipping grip on fast-changing Texas. In 2004, former President George W. Bush, who is from Texas, easily won Harris County and Republicans ran every major countywide office. But recent years have been routs for Democrats, whose wins now extend down the ballot to local judicial races.}} During the House debate on the bill, Phelan banned Texas representatives from using the word "racism".{{cite web |last1=Scully |first1=Rachel |title=Texas state House Speaker bans the word 'racism' amid voting bill debate |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/569671-texas-state-house-speaker-bans-the-word-racism-amid-voting-bill-debate |work=The Hill |access-date=August 27, 2021 |date=August 27, 2021}}

On May 19, 2023, a Republican-led House committee came public with an investigation into Ken Paxton that had been ongoing since March of that year.{{cite web |date=May 23, 2023 |title=House panel investigating AG Ken Paxton's office; Paxton calls on Speaker Dade Phelan to resign |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/23/dade-phelan-ken-paxton-resign-intoxication/ |access-date=June 1, 2023 |publisher=Texas Tribune}} Paxton then called upon Phelan to resign due to "apparent debilitating intoxication" based on a video clip of Phelan struggling to speak during a House session.{{cite web |last1=Heckman |first1=Elizabet |date=23 May 2023 |title=Texas Attorney General Paxton calls on state House Speaker Dade Phelan to resign after 'apparent intoxication' |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/texas-attorney-general-paxton-calls-on-state-house-speaker-dade-phelan-to-resign-after-apparent-intoxication |access-date=26 May 2023 |publisher=Fox News}}{{cite web |date=24 May 2023 |title=Dade Phelan allegedly drunk on House floor |url=https://www.fox4news.com/video/1224720 |access-date=26 May 2023 |publisher=KDFW}} Phelan's office characterized Paxton's statement as "a last-ditch effort to save face" given the timing on the investigation into Paxton going public that same day. That investigation led to the House formally impeaching Paxton on May 27 by a vote of 121–23.{{cite web |date=May 27, 2023 |title=Ken Paxton was impeached by the Texas House. See how each representative voted. |url=https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/27/ken-paxton-texas-house-impeachment-vote/ |access-date=June 1, 2023 |publisher=Texas Tribune}}

On September 16, 2023, Ken Paxton was acquitted of all sixteen corruption charges brought at the impeachment trial.{{cite web |url=https://apnews.com/article/ken-paxton-impeachment-texas-871fb9c57b38fbda5bec5c2e5f280755 |title=Republican Texas AG Ken Paxton is acquitted of corruption charges at historic impeachment trial |date=September 16, 2023 |last1=Weber |last2=Lozano |first1=Paul J. |first2=Juan A. |website=Associated Press |accessdate=September 16, 2023}}

On February 10, 2024, Phelan was censured by the Texas Republican Party for the impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.{{cite web | last=Downen | first=Robert | title=Texas GOP leaders reverse course, ban antisemites from party | website=The Texas Tribune | date=February 10, 2024 | url=https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/10/texas-republican-party-antisemite-resolution-defend-liberty-fuentes/ | access-date=February 11, 2024}} During the 2024 Republican primary, Phelan was endorsed by former Texas governor Rick Perry.{{cite web | last=Huff | first=Jess | title=Rick Perry stumps for Speaker Dade Phelan in final days of primary election | website=The Texas Tribune | date=February 29, 2024 | url=https://www.texastribune.org/2024/02/29/rick-perry-dade-phelan-primary-election/ }} He faced a primary challenge by David Covey, the former Republican Chairman of Orange County. Covey was endorsed by attorney general Paxton,{{cite web | last=Brent | first=Kim | title=Texas Attorney General endorses challenger to Speaker Phelan | website=Beaumont Enterprise | url=https://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-endorses-18598281.php | access-date=January 15, 2024}} lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, and former U.S. President Donald Trump.{{cite web | last=Stringer| first=Matt| title=Trump Endorses David Covey, GOP Challenger to Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan | website=The Texan | date=January 30, 2024 | url=https://thetexan.news/elections/2024/trump-endorses-david-covey-gop-challenger-to-texas-house-speaker-dade-phelan/article_4e0c4ae6-bfa6-11ee-9183-6b9c35cbfda9.html }} As no candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff election was held. Phelan won the primary by 50.7% to Covey's 49.3%.{{cite web | last=Despart | first=Zach | title=House Speaker Dade Phelan wins runoff, surviving challenge by Texas GOP's far-right forces | website=The Texas Tribune | date=May 29, 2024 | url=https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/24/dade-phelan-david-covey-texas-house-speaker-runoff/ | access-date=May 31, 2024}}

Phelan ran unopposed in the 2024 general election.{{cite web | last=Despart | first=Zach | title=How Texas Speaker Dade Phelan won his runoff | website=The Texas Tribune | date=May 31, 2024 | url=https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/31/dade-phelan-texas-speaker-runoff-win/ | access-date=May 31, 2024}} After the election, he announced he would not seek a third term as Speaker of the House.{{cite news |last1=Moritz |first1=John |title=Dade Phelan's reluctant relinquishment of Texas House speakership is part of a pattern |url=https://www.statesman.com/story/news/columns/2024/12/08/dade-phelans-downfall-texas-house-speaker-politics/76822727007/ |access-date=11 December 2024 |publisher=Austin American Statesman |date=8 December 2024}}

Phelan is Catholic; he and his wife, Kimberly ({{nee}} Ware) Phelan, have four children.{{cite web|url=http://www.texansfordade.com/about-dade|title=About Dade Phelan|publisher=texansfordade.com|access-date=December 5, 2014|archive-date=December 7, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141207164048/http://www.texansfordade.com/about-dade|url-status=dead}} In 2024, the University of Texas at Austin recognized Phelan with the Presidential Citation Award.{{Cite web |last=Lee |first=Adrienne |date=2024-02-02 |title=4 Longhorns Recognized With University's Presidential Citation Award |url=https://news.utexas.edu/2024/02/02/4-longhorns-recognized-with-universitys-presidential-citation-award/ |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=UT News |language=en-US}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Texas House of Representatives District 21 Republican primary results, 2014}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Dade Phelan

|votes=7,942|percentage=59.90%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Judy Nichols |votes=5,316|percentage=40.10%}}

{{Election box total no change|votes=13,258|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Texas House of Representatives District 21 General Election, 2014}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Dade Phelan |votes=28,283|percentage=74.39%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Democratic Party (US)|candidate=Gavin Bruney|votes=9,739|percentage=25.61%}}

{{Election box total no change|votes=38,022|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change|winner=Republican Party (United States)}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Texas House of Representatives District 21 General Election, 2016}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Dade Phelan (incumbent)|votes=54,753|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box total no change|votes=54,753|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change|winner=Republican Party (United States)}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Texas House of Representatives District 21 General Election, 2018}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Dade Phelan (incumbent)|votes=46,435|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box total no change|votes=46,435|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change|winner=Republican Party (United States)}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Texas House of Representatives District 21 General Election, 2020}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Dade Phelan (incumbent)|votes=65,689|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box total no change|votes=65,689|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change|winner=Republican Party (United States)}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Texas House of Representatives District 21 General Election, 2022}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Dade Phelan (incumbent)|votes=0|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box total no change|votes=0|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box hold with party link no change|winner=Republican Party (United States)}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Texas House of Representatives District 21 Republican primary results, 2024}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=David Covey

|votes=15,589|percentage=46.28%}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Dade Phelan (incumbent)|votes=14,574|percentage=43.27%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Alicia Davis|votes=3,523|percentage=10.45%}}

{{Election box total no change|votes=33,686|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box end}}

{{Election box begin no change|title=Republican primary runoff results, 2024}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=Dade Phelan (incumbent)|votes=12,813|percentage=50.72%}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|party=Republican Party (United States)|candidate=David Covey|votes=12,447|percentage=49.28%}}

{{Election box total no change|votes=25,260|percentage=100.00%}}

{{Election box end}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.texansfordade.com/ Campaign website]
• [https://house.texas.gov/members/member-page/?district=21 State legislative page]
• [https://www.texastribune.org/directory/dade-phelan/ Dade Phelan at the Texas Tribune]

{{S-start}}

{{s-par|us-tx-hs}}

{{s-bef|before=Allan Ritter}}

{{s-ttl|title=Member of the Texas House of Representatives
from the 21st district|years=2015–present}}

{{s-inc}}

|-

{{s-off}}

{{s-bef|before=Dennis Bonnen}}

{{s-ttl|title=Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives|years=2021–2025}}

{{s-aft|after=Dustin Burrows}}

{{s-end}}

{{TXSpeakers}}

{{Texas House of Representatives}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phelan, Dade}}

Category:1975 births

Category:21st-century members of the Texas Legislature

Category:Living people

Category:American businesspeople in real estate

Category:Businesspeople from Texas

Category:Catholics from Texas

Category:People from Beaumont, Texas

Category:Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives

Category:Speakers of the Texas House of Representatives

Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni