Burrows, Cook announce victory in House Speaker race

Saturday, the 88 member GOP House caucus gathered in Austin to select Dade Phelan's successor. Contention and division followed as front runner David Cook initially fell short of the two thirds margin necessary to capture the majority's endorsement. Eleventh-hour candidate and longtime Phelan ally Dustin Burrows also failed to get the necessary caucus vote, but announced he'd secured sufficient support from Democrats in the minority to win the speakership. Conservative Republicans backing Cook and the state GOP party also declared victory, with some labeling Burrows and his supporters turncoats, who are openly violating the caucus rules.