WHEREAS, Plank 213 of the 2024 Republican Party of Texas Platform states in part:

Texas Speaker of the House, House Committees, and Legislative Quorum:

In the Texas Legislature:
a) We oppose the use of pledge cards and call for Republican members to caucus after each November General Election to determine, by secure secret ballot, their candidate for Speaker and Speaker Pro Tempore. We also call for Republican members to vote as a unified body for their selected Speaker and Speaker Pro Tempore candidate when the Legislature convenes in regular session, provided that the individual selected in caucus for speaker publicly pledges to comply with the entirety of this plank; and

WHEREAS, the Texas House Republican Caucus met on December 7, 2024, to nominate a candidate for Speaker in compliance with the Platform; and

WHEREAS, in the third vote, 26 Republican Representatives walked out of the Texas House Republican Caucus vote in an attempt to deny quorum to the Caucus so that a candidate could be elected with Democratic votes; and

WHEREAS, the Texas House Republican Caucus voted on the third ballot to support Representative David Cook of Tarrant County as their official nominee; and

WHEREAS, after extensive meetings with, and concessions offered by, Representative Dustin Burrows, the Texas House Democratic Caucus has “released” its members to vote for a Republican Speaker candidate other than Representative Cook in an effort to stop Republican agenda items such as school choice, ending taxpayer-funded lobbying, and ending the practice of appointing Democratic committee chairs; now

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas urges all members of the Texas House Republican Caucus to unite behind Representative David Cook and to immediately and publicly commit to vote for him in the floor vote for Speaker of the House; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas calls on Representative Dustin Burrows, and any other Republican Representatives besides Representative Cook who have active campaigns for Speaker of the House, to immediately suspend any campaign activities for Speaker of the House and to commit to support Representative Cook; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas condemns any effort by Republican Representatives to ally with Democrats to elect a Speaker who was not supported by the majority vote of the Texas House Republican Caucus; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Republican Party of Texas praises the Representatives who did not originally support the caucus election winner, but attended the final vote anyway in a spirit of unity, and encourages them to unify behind Representative Cook in any floor vote; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a vote for any attempt to change the Rules of the Texas House of Representatives to allow a secret ballot vote in a floor vote for Speaker of the House will be interpreted by the SREC and by Republican voters as an attempt to hide a vote with Democrats, and as such, will be considered equivalent to a vote for a Speaker supported by Democrats, which the SREC will consider a censurable act.