DALLAS — Texas hasn’t had a Democratic Speaker of the House since 2003, when Pete Laney held the gavel.
And the Texas House has been solidly Republican since then too, with Democrats currently controlling only 64 seats out of the 150 in the lower chamber.
Don’t tell any of that to state Representative Ana-María Rodríguez Ramos, D-Richardson, who has announced a bid for the speakership.
The North Texas Democrat says it’s too early to tell if she can pull in any votes from Republican House members because voters haven’t gone to the polls yet and she thinks the makeup of the House can change.
“Right now what we have are not necessarily the individuals who are gonna vote for Speaker on November 5,” Rodríguez Ramos told us on Inside Texas Politics. “And this campaign is about making that change.”
Make no mistake about it, it will be an uphill battle for Rep. Rodríguez Ramos.
There are already six Republicans in the crowded race for Speaker as well: Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, who’s seeking to become Speaker for a third term; Rep. John Smithee, R-Amarillo; Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield; Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls; Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville; and Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress.
Political observers say the only real chance Rodríguez Ramos has against so many Republicans in a Republican-controlled House is if the GOP splits its votes between so many candidates, allowing her to eke out a win with a unified vote by Democrats.
As Speaker, Rep. Phelan has continued a longstanding Texas tradition of naming members of the opposite party to chair certain legislative committees.
That practice has angered many far-right Republicans in the state, and the other five Republicans in the race have vowed not to name a Democrat as chair.
For her part, Rep. Rodríguez Ramos says if elected, she would “absolutely” give a chairmanship to a Republican.
“Texas is mostly Democrat, but we don’t have the voting numbers that we need to. But we have valuable, good, hard-working Republicans, not only across Texas but in the Texas House. And unfortunately, because of the MAGA extremists, a lot of those reasonable Republicans were wiped out during the primaries, and it is most unfortunate,” said the Democrat.
Early voting runs from Oct. 21 to Nov.1.
Election day is November 5 when polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The vote for Speaker will take place on the first day of the session, Jan. 14, 2025.