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Former Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, a Beaumont Republican who oversaw a spate of conservative legislation and led the impeachment of a fellow Republican that revealed deeper divisions within the GOP, announced Thursday he will not seek reelection to the Legislature.

Phelan made the announcement in a social media post that included a video of Chuck Norris wishing Phelan “good luck in the next chapter of your life.” The former speaker said the video would be his final political ad for the state House.

“May God Bless the House and may God Bless the Great State of Texas,” Phelan wrote in the post.

Phelan, a real estate developer, was first elected to the state House in 2014. He served as speaker of the lower chamber from 2021 until 2025, when he gave up the gavel and was succeeded by one of his top lieutenants, Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock.

Though he narrowly survived a bruising primary challenge in 2024, Phelan dropped his bid for another term leading the House later that year, as he remained under siege from the right due to the lower chamber’s impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton and its failure to pass a private school voucher program.

In his two terms as speaker, Phelan oversaw passage of a litany of conservative priorities, including allowing permitless carry of handguns, restricting transgender rights, testing the boundaries of Texas’ role in immigration enforcement and banning nearly all abortions statewide.

This developing story will be updated.

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