TEXAS — Ten Republican representatives are at risk of not being allowed on the 2026 ballot, including House Speaker Dustin Burrows and former House Speaker Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, who isn’t running for reelection. The other members up for censure are state Reps. Morgan Meyer, R-University Park; Angie Chen Button, R-Garland; Jeff Leach, R-Allen; Jared Patterson, R-Frisco; Cody Harris, R-Palestine; Angelia Orr, R-Itasca; Stan Lambert, R-Abilene; and Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston.
The possibility of being barred from the ballot comes after a conservative legislative season that included private school vouchers and a new Congressional map drawn to give Republicans five new seats. But many of the allegations against members facing censure stem from the election of Burrows to lead the House and supporting Democratic committee chairs.
For a member to be censured, they must be found to have violated three party principles or legislative priorities.
State Republican Executive Committee member Lydia Covey started to review the allegations against the members before the committee votes in two weeks on censure resolutions that originated at the county party level.
“The process is pretty rigid for a censure to make it to this point,” said Covey. “Just giving ample opportunity, checking and double checking to make sure we’re doing this right, because we’re not trying to keep people off the ballot. We’re just trying to follow the rules and keep people accountable.”
Texas Republican Party Chairman Abraham George is giving the lawmakers an opportunity to speak before the SREC meeting and are “strongly encouraged” to attend.
“They can say, well, this is why I did this, or this actually isn’t correct. They get an opportunity where if we miss something, they can explain that to us,” said Covey.
None of the members up for censure sent Capital Tonight a comment. But some were active online earlier this month after the Denton County Republican Party voted to send a censure resolution for state Rep. Jared Patterson, R-Frisco, to the state party. State Rep. Cody Harris, R-Palestine, wrote “We are held accountable by Republican voters, not party bosses.”
“This really is an outgrowth of the long-running fight between movement ideological conservatives and the more moderate, more traditionalist faction of the Republican party,” said Matthew Wilson, a professor of political science at SMU.
If the censures are approved, the party is expected to face legal challenges over whether members can be removed from the March primary ballot.
“The candidates will say that they ultimately are responsible to their constituents, not to state party apparatus,” said Wilson. “Whether that’s right or not, that certainly will fuel their challenges to this this censure process.”
According to the party language, a vote to censure “authorizes and directs” the state chairman and county chairs to “refuse to accept any application for a place on the ballot.”
“The conservatives who really control the state party apparatus have less and less patience for legislators who don’t toe their line,” said Wilson.
The party did not respond to a request for comment.