Mark Jones of Rice University’s Baker Institute previewed the 2013 Texas legislature with a blog post on the Houston Chronicle’s Baker Institute blog.
Jones correctly predicted that the Texas Senate will be very conservative in the 83rd legislature. Lt. Governor Dewhurst yesterday announced his new, more conservative committee chairs. The discussion before appointments was whether or not the Lt. Gov. would appoint any Democrats to committee chairs.
This will create a situation in which Texans see more clearly than ever that Joe Straus and moderate Republican House members are not conservative, and are standing in the way of the grassroots, the Gov., the Lt. Gov., the Senate, and the good Republicans in the House.
Keep in mind that this will be after a campaign season in which GOP House members, as usual, campaigned as conservatives. In all likelihood, they will be even more exposed ahead of the next primary season than they were in the one they just struggled through.
With much less contrast Straus’s closest allies had big trouble in the 2012 primary season.
House members trying not to stand out today could find their strategy backfiring in under a year.
–Mark Jones blog piece