State Rep. James Frank is the fourth Republican to challenge Dade Phelan for Speaker of the House

“State Rep. James Frank is fourth Republican to challenge Dade Phelan for House speaker” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs — and engages — Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.

Rep. James Frank of Wichita Falls, a Republican who is one of the leading voices in the Texas House of Representatives on health care and foster care, announced Tuesday that he is running for speaker, the fourth member to challenge current House Majority Leader Dade Phelan, a Republican from Beaumont.

In a statement announcing his candidacy for chairman, Frank said he would work on better communication, member empowerment and legislative flow management if he became the chamber’s leader. Like Phelan’s three previous challengers, he pledged to nominate only Republicans to leadership positions on legislative committees.

“After the end of last session, and especially after the results of the March primary, it became clear to me that the House itself and our constituents want to move in a different direction,” Frank said in his announcement. “With today’s actions, I ask you to consider whether I represent that direction.”

Phelan has said he plans to seek another term as speaker when the House reconvenes in January. But his control of the chamber is shaky: In May, Phelan narrowly fended off a challenger backed by the far-right wing of his party, and two GOP members were already trying to seize control of the gavel before Frank entered the fray.

Much of the opposition to Phelan stems from his support for the impeachment of fellow Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton last year on corruption and bribery charges, which drove a wedge between Phelan’s allies and the party’s right wing. Frank was one of 60 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Paxton.

Frank has served in the House since 2012 and has chaired the chamber’s Human Services Committee since 2019. He is the second committee chair to challenge Phelan, joining Rep. Tom Oliverson, R-Cypress, who Phelan tapped to oversee the House Insurance Committee. Also running for the floor are Rep. Shelby Slawson, R-Stephenville, and Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield.

Slawson was one of 23 who voted against Paxton’s impeachment, and Oliverson missed the vote. Cook voted for impeachment, but later clarified that he would have voted against three of the articles against Paxton.

Frank is a staunch supporter of private school vouchers, the other issue that has emerged as a political litmus test for GOP lawmakers amid Gov. Greg Abbott’s support. Oliverson and Slawson also support school vouchers, or the policy of using taxpayer dollars to help parents pay for their children’s private school tuition.

Phelan kept his personal feelings on vouchers secret, since the issue divided Republicans in the House of Representatives last session. He did not vote on a measure that ultimately killed the voucher bill, as is often the case for the speaker of the House. He later told The Texas Tribune that he would have supported a limited voucher program.

Inside the chamber, Frank is best known for his work on health care policy and child welfare legislation. He sponsored a 2017 bill that overhauled the state’s troubled foster care system, instituting a new model that relied on outside contractors to place children in residential facilities or find foster parents. This so-called community-based care model has slowly grown since the law was signed into law, the Tribune reported.

Frank has also led initiatives to create legislation that limits the ability of child protective services to remove children from their homes.

In addition, he has introduced a number of bills through the Human Services Committee aimed at improving Texas’ Medicaid Managed Care program, the privatized system used to provide most of the state’s insured benefits, such as drugs and treatment services.

Frank, a 57-year-old businessman, owns an ironworks in Wichita Falls, where more than half of his district lives.

He represents a rural, solidly Republican 14-county area, several of which run along Texas’ northern border with Oklahoma. The district also includes some of the state’s least populated areas south of the Panhandle.