Craddick Elected to Third Term as House Speaker

The 80th Texas Legislature convened January 9, 2007. The House of Representatives spent most of the day adopting rules concerning the process for electing a speaker and then electing the speaker.

Watch Representative Pitts' Withdrawal Speech (QuickTime) 

Watch Speaker Craddick's Acceptance Speech (QuickTime)

Watch streaming video of the whole meeting on the Capitol website  (RealPlayer)

How Your Representative Voted in the Speaker's Race

Representative Jim Pitts withdrew from the speaker's race late in the day, leaving Representative Tom Craddick as the only candidate in the race. Pitts stated that he was withdrawing because he didn't want to put his supporters in jeopardy by forcing them to vote for him in a public display.

Most of the debate throughout the day centered on the question of whether the voting record in the speaker's race should be made public immediately after the vote, or whether the ballots should remain secret until after committee appointments are made in a couple of weeks.

Lawmakers supporting keeping the ballots secret until after committee appointments are made argued that the secret ballot would make the committee appointment process more fair by ensuring that the speaker, who appoints committee chairs and members, would not be influenced in his appointments by knowing which members had supported him and which had supported his opponent.

Lawmakers who supported immediate release of the voting record said that "there should be no delay" in members' facing "the consequences of their vote" and that legislators' constituents deserved to know how their representatives had voted.

How Your Representative Voted in the Speaker's Race