What’s next for Texas GOP after House Speaker Bonnen announces he won’t run for re-election?

EXPERT ALERT

Amy McCaig
713-348-6777
amym@rice.edu

What’s next for Texas GOP after House Speaker Bonnen announces he won’t run for re-election?

HOUSTON – (Oct. 22, 2019) – Texas House Speaker Dennis Bonnen has announced he will not run for re-election following the release of a secret recording of him insulting and politically targeting fellow GOP lawmakers. Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University, is available to weigh in on what’s next for Texas Republicans.

“Over the past week, the calls for Bonnen to resign by a broad cross section of Republicans have grown to such proportions that it was clear that he would not be re-elected within the GOP caucus as its speaker nominee in 2021,” Jones said. “His decision to not seek re-election should calm the waters, since his GOP opponents now know he will not continue as speaker, and these same opponents as well as his supporters can focus their energies on the 2020 campaign to retain the GOP House majority.

“Bonnen’s decision to not seek re-election represents a humiliating end to an impressive legislative career spanning three decades,” Jones said. “Bonnen rose to the pinnacle of power in the House in 2019, only to see a bright and potentially sustained tenure as speaker destroyed by a string of miscalculations. It began with his decision to speak too candidly and abrasively in a meeting with Michael Quinn Sullivan, then he compounded that error by lying and misleading his fellow Republicans legislators, including many friends and allies,” Jones concluded.

To interview Jones, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, professor of political science, fellow in political science at Rice’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and fellow at Rice’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research, contact him directly at mpjones@rice.edu or 832-466-6535.

Rice University has a VideoLink ReadyCam TV interview studio. ReadyCam is capable of transmitting broadcast-quality high-definition and standard-definition video directly to all news media organizations around the world 24/7. Rice also has a university backdrop, 1080p webcam, light kit and wireless mic for Skype interviews.

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Related materials:

Jones’ bio: https://www.bakerinstitute.org/experts/mark-p-jones/

Follow Jones on Twitter @MarkPJonesTX.

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