The two-term Republican caught many Capitol observers off guard when he emerged as the standard-bearer for a coalition that wants to depose Phelan and reshape how the House operates.
Last year, state Rep. David Cook of Mansfield was quietly but steadily climbing the ranks of Texas politics.
The sophomore lawmaker had been named vice chair of the committee overseeing the state’s criminal laws. He carried and passed a GOP priority bill aimed at reining in “rogue” progressive district attorneys. And he had a coveted seat on the powerful Calendars Committee, which acts as the House gatekeeper because it controls which bills reach the floor for a vote and which never see the light of day.
Cook’s promising start was a clear indication House Speaker Dade Phelan considered him an ally.
Then, in September, Cook made an audacious gambit by announcing he would join an increasingly crowded field challenging Phelan for the speaker’s gavel. By the end of that month, Cook emerged as the consensus pick of the anti-Phelan House Republicans to replace the sitting speaker.
In announcing his run for speaker, Cook said that political infighting, breakdowns in communication and a lack of transparency from Phelan had hindered the Republican majority’s work. He promised to engage regularly with lawmakers if elected.
“My philosophy is rooted in returning power to the members and fostering an environment where we can work together effectively,” he said.
Cook, whose voting record placed him near the ideological middle of the House Republicans, is an unlikely choice to be standard-bearer for a coalition looking to oust Phelan on the grounds that he is too moderate. The group is dominated by social conservatives from the chamber’s rightmost flank, many of whom opposed Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment last year or won their seats by defeating members like Cook who had supported it.
They want to further disempower the House’s Democratic minority by putting Republicans in charge of every legislative committee. They also want to speed the passage of conservative legislation and ensure that major GOP bills reach the floor before any Democratic measures.
On paper, other GOP candidates who’d announced challenges to Phelan appeared more representative of the insurgent crowd, including Rep. Shelby Slawson of Stephenville, one of the House’s most conservative members, and Rep. John Smithee of Amarillo, who won plaudits from the far right for vigorously opposing Paxton’s impeachment.
“If you’re a reformer, I’m not sure how they settled on him,” said Rep. Carl Tepper, R-Lubbock, a Phelan supporter.
Now, Cook and Phelan are waging a behind-the-scenes battle for control of the Texas House, each projecting confidence that they have a path to victory despite shaky public support.
In early December, the House GOP Caucus is scheduled to meet to settle on their endorsed nominee for speaker. Under the group’s rules — which are occasionally disregarded by members — whoever gets 60% or more of the votes at the meeting will be the caucus’ endorsed candidate and should receive support from all Republican members when the vote goes to the full House.
Phelan, a Beaumont Republican who has served as speaker for two terms and a House member since 2015, insists he has enough votes to lead the chamber for a third time in January — but he has not produced a list of supporters. Cook is touting 47 Republicans who would back him, short of the threshold required to gain the endorsement of the House GOP Caucus and far short of the 76 lawmakers from either party he would need to win the real speaker’s election on the House floor in January.
His allies remain hopeful that enough Republicans will buckle under the pressure of drawing a career-threatening primary challenge from Phelan’s deep-pocketed political foes if they lend their support to the incumbent speaker. But that threat has not produced any new pledges for Cook since he announced his initial list of supporters, signaling that Phelan could keep the gavel with backing from the chamber’s 62 Democrats and a minority of the Republican caucus.
Cook and Phelan both declined comment for this story.
The caucus meeting is a pivotal moment for Cook’s bid. The 53-year-old lawmaker will either emerge as the clear frontrunner to lead the chamber or potentially be relegated to the doghouse next session for challenging the sitting speaker.
“A coalition builder”
Cook’s roots in the Texas Capitol go back more than 30 years to 1993 when he got his start as a legislative aide for conservative Democrat Rep. Jerry Johnson of Nacogdoches while attending Stephen F. Austin State University.
But his biggest mentor and influence in the Legislature was the late Republican Sen. Chris Harris of Arlington, whom he worked for as an aide in the mid-1990s. The two became law partners at Harris’ family and business law firm, where Cook now works as managing partner.
As a lawyer in Tarrant County, Cook was able to rub elbows with movers and shakers in Texas’ largest Republican county who could help him launch a political career.
In 2008, he won his first election for mayor of Mansfield, a suburb south of Arlington with about 50,000 residents. During his 12 years at the helm, the city’s population grew by more than 40%, part of the explosive growth seen throughout the North Texas suburbs.
Larry Broseh, a longtime Mansfield city council member, said Cook helped usher the city out of its “sleepy, bedroom community era” into a booming suburb marked by mixed-use developments and a growing web of master-planned communities.
He began to show some of the hallmarks of how he would govern as a state legislator, focusing on a conservative approach to the city’s finances and promoting economic growth, over culture wars.
“He was definitely a coalition builder,” Broseh said, describing how the seven-person council typically decided matters with 7-0 or 6-1 votes. “I’ve worked with four mayors throughout my tenure, and by far I think he was the most collaborative person.”
Broseh said he was “surprised as much as the next person” when he heard that Cook was challenging Phelan, in part because Cook had left City Hall for the Capitol so recently. But Broseh contended that Cook’s ability to build alliances and find common ground — underscored by his work as a family law mediator — would serve him well in the race.
