Texas House speaker who faced blowback over Paxton impeachment drops bid to keep post

The speaker of the Texas House has dropped efforts to keep his powerful post following a bruising year of criticism from the party’s hard right. Republican Dade Phelan said Friday he was ending his bid to serve another term as speaker after months of projecting confidence that he would continue leading the Texas House. Phelan had faced backlash following the House impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2023.