AUSTIN — Summer could have been a time for Texas House Republicans to heal from a bruising primary season, setting the tone for choosing the next House leader and identifying priorities for the legislative session that starts in six months.

Instead, Republicans are exchanging insults on social media, four conservative lawmakers have been censured by fellow Republicans for campaigning against incumbents, and GOP factions are pushing contrasting calls for action ahead of the 2025 session.

The tension has strained relations within the party, distracting from the work that matters — developing sound state policy and passing laws that help Texans, legislators say.

It comes as Republicans prepare to choose a House speaker who will wield extensive power over which policies succeed or fail in the next two years.

Dade Phelan, the current speaker, is under siege from his party’s right flank, with two other Republicans vying for his job and several others weighing a challenge. Phelan supporters and opponents frequently clash on social media — a public airing of disdain that is remarkable for a legislative body that thrives on personal relationships and party cohesion.

The fight for leadership, frequently pitting pro-Phelan conservative and moderate Republicans against anti-Phelan conservatives, will influence a host of contentious issues awaiting legislative action, including school choice, property tax cuts and border security.

The strains are taking a toll.

“Normally going into session is a fun exercise. We look forward to it,” said Rep. Carl Tepper, R-Lubbock. “In this atmosphere, with so many combative camps, there’s a lot of uncertainty and consternation about how the session will unfold.”

The Dallas Morning News spoke to 20 House incumbents, candidates and high-ranking staff members for this story, including 11 who declined to go on the record when discussing internal House dynamics and how they impact legislation.

Phelan’s office, contacted twice by email and once by phone, declined to comment.

In many ways, the seeds of House Republican discontent were planted in last spring’s bitter primary season, when three state GOP leaders opposed a slate of incumbents for unique reasons.

Gov. Greg Abbott targeted Republicans who blocked his voucherlike school choice plan. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick targeted Phelan, saying the speaker and his deputies blocked too many conservative priorities that had passed the Senate. Attorney General Ken Paxton sought revenge after 60 Republicans voted to impeach him in May 2023.

Spokespeople for Patrick and Paxton did not respond to multiple emails and phone calls seeking interviews to discuss the impact their efforts had on unity in the Texas House and within the Republican Party.

Abbott said he didn’t expect hard feelings from House members to get in the way of his conservative agenda, particularly a voucherlike program that allows Texas students to use state money to attend private schools. He expects a school choice plan to pass next session

“It’s not something I want to always do,” Abbott said. “All I was doing was being an advocate for the voters in their districts.”

His stance: “I’ll support anybody who supports school choice, but I’ll have to get involved in campaigns for those who fight against it.”

Ultraconservative candidates and organizations embraced many of the themes adopted by Abbott, Patrick and Paxton, leading to the defeat of 15 incumbent Republicans in the March primary and May runoff.

After Rep. Kronda Thimesch, R-Lewisville, lost to Mitch Little, one of Paxton’s impeachment lawyers, she sounded an alarm in a March 28 opinion piece in The Dallas Morning News.

“Republican-on-Republican violence has to end before it destroys our state from the inside out,” Thimesch wrote.

Little says he and other challengers succeeded because too many incumbents fought school choice and supported Paxton’s impeachment, gambling, “a bloated budget and bad leadership.”

“One is an accident; fifteen is a pattern,” he said by email. “Austin has a tendency to divorce elected officials from the conservative values of the people who vote for them, and the voters had seen enough.”

Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo, has been in office for almost 40 years. While acknowledging divisions within his party, he said Republicans have incentive to unite.

“It’s going to be hard to get anything done in the Legislature this next session unless you’ve got Republicans working together,” Smithee told West Texas conservative radio host Chad Hasty in mid-June. “We’ve got to find a way for the House to work together.”

GOP House members censured

In 2019, House Republicans adopted rules of conduct that included bans on campaigning against GOP incumbents or financially supporting an incumbent’s primary opponent.

Citing “egregious violations” of the rules, Rep. Glenn Rogers, R-Graford, filed a complaint in May against four lawmakers – Reps. Brian Harrison of Midlothian, Steve Toth of The Woodlands, Nate Schatzline of Fort Worth and Tony Tinderholt of Arlington – who campaigned aggressively against incumbents in the March primary and May runoff elections.

“We all voted on the bylaws and approved the bylaws, and rules are rules, that’s why we have them,” said Rogers, who was targeted by Abbott and soundly defeated by Mike Olcott in the March primary. “If we don’t obey the rules, why have a caucus?”

The executive committee of the House Republican Caucus responded by censuring Harrison, Toth, Schatzline and Tinderholt, saying they violated party rules adopted “as a method of eliminating discord and promoting solidarity.”

Although the four could have been expelled from the GOP caucus, a letter from the executive committee said, “We recognize it is in the best interest of the Caucus to come together and move past your efforts to divide us.”

Harrison, Toth, Tinderholt and Schatzline were unrepentant, saying they would have been happy to be expelled from the conference if that’s what it took to help “many true conservatives” defeat out-of-touch incumbents.

“At a time when Republicans should be unifying against Democrats, the Caucus is divisively punishing conservatives,” they said in a joint statement.

Harrison called the censure a “badge of honor.” Toth acknowledged breaking incumbent-protection rules he described as “stupid.”

“If I’ve got to break the rules to do the right thing, I’ll break the rules to do the right thing,” he said.

Rogers, whose time in office will end in January after serving two two-year terms, said the caucus should have expelled the four representatives.

“I think the censure was just a slap on the wrist,” he said.

‘Broken dipstick’ and other insults

Leading up to the primary runoff in May, the four censured lawmakers regularly took to social media to question the conservative credentials of GOP incumbents they opposed. Afterward, they blasted the caucus censure as sour grapes from losing candidates.

“Attempting to kick out 4 of the top ten most conservative legislators in the TX House!” Tinderholt said on X. “Tone Deafness to say the least!”

Rep. Jacey Jetton of Richmond, defeated in the GOP primary, fired back, calling Tinderholt a “broken dipstick” and accusing him of provoking a “made up drama.”

“Your self righteous bulls— doesn’t rinse clean the mess made by your lack of integrity,” said Jetton, who lost to Matt Morgan by 15 percentage points.

Tinderholt’s social media criticism also got under the skin of Tepper, who responded in May: “Disingenuous is your new moniker.”

Tinderholt did not respond to the jibes. He also did not respond to a phone call and text message seeking comment from The News.

Several lawmakers who have received online criticism believe arguing via social media is unprofessional and unbecoming of elected officials.

“It’s not good for the state of Texas,” Jetton said in an interview. “It’s not good for the Republican Party.”

“I think people are real brave on Twitter. They say things on Twitter that they wouldn’t say in person,” said Rep. Cole Hefner, R-Mount Pleasant, referring to the social media platform now known as X. “And if you wouldn’t say it in person, you shouldn’t be saying it on Twitter.”

Harrison said he views social media as a way to communicate directly with constituents and other Texans.

“I make no apology for it,” Harrison said. “My public comments, whether they’re on Twitter, local news or national news, are directly in line with what my constituents and the voters of Texas want.”

Social media has changed the way lawmakers communicate with the public and each other, said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. In the past, criticizing an opponent would have required a public statement or news conference.

Now, lawmakers can hurl insults with the click of a button, initiating online conversations that can snowball into harsher exchanges. The verbal sparring can increase a politician’s popularity, but the cost is worsening political polarization, Jones said.

“You get effectively this circle where one negative tweet often results in dozens of additional negative tweets as part of the back and forth between the individuals involved or others who joined the fight,” he said.

Harrison, a prolific user of X, said he refuses to “play nice” even if it antagonizes other lawmakers, damaging relationships and limiting his ability to pass legislation.

“It’s almost implicit that to have a good relationship you have to capitulate — you have to stop fighting for voters,” Harrison said. “I’m not willing to do that.”

Competing GOP goals, priorities

Shortly before the May runoffs, nearly two-dozen GOP state lawmakers and candidates released a “Contract with Texas” that demanded 12 reforms the next House speaker needed to embrace to receive their support.

The contract’s demands included ending the practice of Democrats serving as leaders of some House committees and ensuring that GOP legislative priorities receive a floor vote before any Democratic bills.

The contract also denounced Phelan’s tenure as speaker.

“As conservative Republican members and prospective members of the Texas House, we are committed to reforming it from a body of liberal dysfunction to a body that more faithfully serves Texas voters, and it is time for new leadership in the Texas House,” the contract said.

Harrison, Schatzline, Tinderholt and Toth — plus several successful GOP primary challengers — signed on, describing the contract as an easy way to distinguish grassroots supporters from go-along-to-get-along members of the Austin “swamp.”

After the contract was released, 46 House Republicans unveiled their list of conservative priorities, called the “Texas Conservative Commitment,” for the 2025 legislative session.

The priorities included passing a universal school choice plan, banning taxpayer-funded lobbying and cutting property taxes devoted to school operations. There was no mention of banning Democratic chairs.

Several Republicans who have committed to supporting Phelan as speaker, including Rep. Matt Shaheen of Plano, signed the Texas Conservative Commitment.

Shaheen said he believes some of the contract’s goals are misguided. After knocking on more than 1,000 doors before the GOP primary, Shaheen said, he found district residents were more concerned about border security and the economy, not the ins and outs of how the House operates.

“Nobody asked me about who I was voting for as speaker, nobody asked me about Democrat chairs,” Shaheen said. “So clearly, the Texas Conservative Commitment is the vehicle for next session.”

Little, the Denton County candidate who defeated Thimesch, signed the Contract with Texas, saying its reforms offer the best path toward passing conservative priorities.

“As I’ve said before, unless you reform the House, policy does not matter,” Little said. “The reforms have to succeed so that policy can win or lose on its own merits.”

A contentious speaker’s race

Republicans outnumber Democrats in the House 86-64 and — with a handful of competitive districts on the ballot — expect to retain majority control after the November election.

After Election Day, the first order of business for Republicans will be selecting a candidate for speaker, a position that all 150 representatives vote to fill when the regular session begins in January.

The consensus GOP candidate will be selected in a private meeting before the session’s start. Being the party’s nominee doesn’t preclude a floor challenge, but the chosen candidate will enter the session in a strong position. Phelan emerged from the private GOP meeting as the speaker nominee in 2023 after a 78-6 vote. Tinderholt mounted a floor challenge anyway, only to be trounced by Phelan, 145-3, with only Republicans voting in opposition.

So far, two Republicans are vying to replace Phelan — Rep. Tom Oliverson of Cypress, who said the House under Phelan had become “dysfunctional,” and Rep. Shelby Slawson of Stephenville, who criticized Phelan’s team as “an arrogant leadership cadre.”

Slawson is calling for the next speaker to be elected with at least 76 Republican votes, blocking Democrats from having a role in the selection process. Slawson did not respond to a phone call or text message seeking comment.

At least three other House Republicans have been considering a run for speaker, according to multiple lawmakers who declined to speak publicly.

The next speaker will have a powerful say over the House’s legislative agenda by choosing committee leaders, ruling on parliamentary challenges to bills and assigning individual bills to each committee.

Slawson and Oliverson oppose Democratic chairs, but Phelan said in March he would continue appointing Democrats to lead some committees, saying it helps maintain bipartisan relationships and pass legislation.

“It keeps us from being like Washington, D.C., where everything shuts down,” Phelan said in March on Capital Tonight on Spectrum News. “We don’t want the chaos that is in Washington, D.C. We want to get things done for the folks here in Texas.”

Shaheen, who believes Republicans can unify behind Phelan, said the fight over the next speaker creates uncertainty ahead of the 2025 session.

“At the end of the day, Dade Phelan ended abortion, passed the largest tax cut in history, passed constitutional carry and protected children from being sexualized,” Shaheen said. “That’s who I will support.”

Toth disagrees, saying 46 Republican lawmakers and nominees have signed a letter demanding an end to Democratic committee chairs.

“I honestly believe that the numbers are bleeding away from Dade,” Toth said. “There’s a light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s not a train.”