Dade Phelan
Dade Phelan | |
---|---|
Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives | |
Assumed office January 12, 2021 | |
Preceded by | Dennis Bonnen |
Member of the Texas House of Representatives from the 21st district | |
Assumed office January 13, 2015 | |
Preceded by | Allan Ritter |
Personal details | |
Born | Beaumont, Texas, U.S. | September 18, 1975
Political party | Republican |
Spouse | Kim |
Children | 4 |
Education | University of Texas, Austin (BA) |
Matthew McDade Phelan (born September 18, 1975) is an American real estate developer and Republican member of the Texas House of Representatives for District 21. He has served as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives since January 2021.
Background
Phelan is a 1994 graduate of Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School in Beaumont and a 1998 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.[1]
State legislator
Phelan currently serves as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. He has served previously as Chair of the House Committee on State Affairs, on the Natural Resources Committee as Vice-Chair, the Calendars Committee, the Appropriations Committee, Elections Committee as well as the Select Committee on Ports, Innovation and Infrastructure. He is also a founding member of the House Criminal Justice Reform Caucus.[2]
Phelan was named a “Champion of Infrastructure” by the lobbying group The American Council of Engineering Companies of Texas[3] and was twice a finalist for “Newsmaker of the Year” by the Press Club of Southeast Texas.[4]
Texas Monthly recognized Phelan as one of the best legislators of 2019.[5]
On December 2, 2020, Phelan was traveling in a private plane to meet Representative Trent Ashby when it crashed on landing during a rainstorm at Angelina County Airport near Lufkin, Texas. There were no serious injuries.[6]
Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
On January 12, 2021, Phelan was elected the 76th Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. He is the first Speaker of the House in state history from Southeast Texas.
Voting rights
On August 12, 2021, Phelan signed arrest warrants for the 52 Democratic lawmakers who had left the state to deny a quorum. The lawmakers were attempting to block the passage of legislation widely considered by civil rights groups to restrict voting access to voters of color.[7] During the House debate on the bill, Phelan banned Texas representatives from using the word "racism".[8]
Personal life
He is a former board secretary to Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas and a former board member of the St. Anne Roman Catholic Church, the historic Jefferson Theatre, Southeast Texas CASA and the Golden Triangle Conservation Association. In 2019 he was installed as a Director to the Texas Lyceum.[1]
Phelan and his wife, Kim, live in Jefferson County, Texas with their four young boys.[1]
References
- ^ a b c "About Dade Phelan". texansfordade.com. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
- ^ McCullough, Jolie (18 July 2019). "After defeats in 2019, a group of Texas lawmakers is teaming up to push criminal justice reform". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ "CHAMPIONS OF INFRASTRUCTURE - 86TH LEGISLATIVE SESSION". ACEC Texas. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ "Newsmaker of the Year finalists named". Port Arthur News. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ Sanchez, Carlos; Ratcliffe, R.G.; Hooks, Christopher (18 June 2019). "2019: The Best and Worst Legislators". Texas Monthly. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ "Incoming Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan On Plane That Skidded Off Airport Runway". CBS DFW. 3 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
- ^ Multiple sources:
- Eva Ruth Moravec; Elise Viebeck (12 August 2021). "Texas House speaker signs arrest warrants for Democrats who broke quorum over voting restrictions". Washington Post. Washington Post.
- Ura, Alexa (2021-05-07). "Texas GOP's voting restrictions bill could be rewritten behind closed doors after final House passage". The Texas Tribune.
But both the original SB 7 and the original provisions of HB 6 were opposed by civil rights groups who raised the prospect that the legislation violates federal safeguards for voters of color. Republicans' efforts to further restrict voting in the state come as their presidential margins of victory continue to thin and Democrats drive up their votes in diverse urban centers and growing suburban communities.
- Ura, Alexa (2021-03-22). "Texas Republicans begin pursuing new voting restrictions as they work to protect their hold on power". The Texas Tribune.
Senate Bill 7 is part of a broader package of proposals to constrain local initiatives widening voter access in urban areas, made up largely by people of color, that favor Democrats.
- "New GOP-led voting restrictions move forward in Texas". CBS News/AP. 1 April 2021.
The bill is one of two major voting packages in Texas that mirrors a nationwide campaign by Republicans after former President Donald Trump made false claims about election fraud. Voting rights groups say the measures would disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minority voters.
- Wines, Michael (2021-04-01). "Texas lawmakers advance a bill that would make voting more difficult, drawing comparisons to Georgia". The New York Times.
Critics of the Senate bill said most of its provisions were less about making voting secure than about making it harder, particularly for urban voters and minority voters, two groups that tend to vote for Democrats.
- Barragán, James (2021-04-01). "In overnight vote, Texas Senate passes bill that would make it harder to vote". Dallas Morning News.
[President of the Texas Civil Rights Project] said many of the bill's provisions would disproportionately affect voters of color. The extended voting hours in Harris County, for example, were mostly used by voters of color. Fifty-six percent of voters who cast ballots in late night hours were Black, Hispanic or Asian, according to the Texas Civil Rights Project.
- Coronado, Acacia (2021-05-30). "EXPLAINER: How Texas Republicans aim to make voting harder". Associated Press.
Advocates say the changes would disproportionately affect minorities and people with disabilities.
- Gardner, Amy (2021-05-30). "How the new Texas voting bill would create hurdles for voters of color". Washington Post.
While Senate Bill 7 would have wide-ranging effects on voters across the state, it includes specific language that critics say would disproportionately affect people of color — particularly those who live in under-resourced and urban communities.
- Jasper Scherer; Zach Despart (1 May 2021). "GOP bills target Harris County's efforts to expand voting. Here's how that played out in the 2020 election". Houston Chronicle.
Voting rights experts say the bills — which include measures that would apply only to the state's most populous counties, all of which are predominantly nonwhite — would discriminate against voters of color.
- Nick Corasaniti (24 April 2021). "Republicans Target Voter Access in Texas Cities, but Not Rural Areas". New York Times.
The Republican focus on diverse urban areas, voting activists say, evokes the state's history of racially discriminatory voting laws — including poll taxes and "white primary" laws during the Jim Crow era — that essentially excluded Black voters from the electoral process. Most of Harris County's early voters were white, according to a study by the Texas Civil Rights Project, a nonprofit group. But the majority of those who used drive-through or 24-hour voting — the early voting methods the Republican bills would prohibit — were people of color, the group found.
- Paul J. Weber (15 April 2021). "Houston's expanded voting becomes target of GOP restrictions".
The effort is one of the clearest examples of how the GOP's nationwide campaign to tighten voting laws can target Democrats, even as they insist the measures are not partisan. With Americans increasingly sorted into liberal urban areas and conservative rural ones, geography can be an effective proxy for partisanship. Proposals tailored to cities or that take population into account are bound to have a greater impact on Democratic voters.; The county exemplifies the GOP's slipping grip on fast-changing Texas. In 2004, former President George W. Bush, who is from Texas, easily won Harris County and Republicans ran every major countywide office. But recent years have been routs for Democrats, whose wins now extend down the ballot to local judicial races.
- ^ Scully, Rachel (27 August 2021). "Texas state House Speaker bans the word 'racism' amid voting bill debate". The Hill. Retrieved 27 August 2021.
External links
- 1975 births
- 21st-century American politicians
- American real estate businesspeople
- Businesspeople from Texas
- Catholics from Texas
- Living people
- Republican Party members of the Texas House of Representatives
- People from Beaumont, Texas
- Speakers of the Texas House of Representatives
- University of Texas at Austin alumni