In December, after state Rep. Dustin Burrows declared the House Speaker’s race was over, chaos erupted in and around the Republican-dominated Capitol.

Burrows, a Lubbock Republican, was leaning on the support of Democrats and around three-dozen Republicans to flout a non-binding state GOP rule saying caucus members must vote for the caucus-endorsed candidate.

Several Republicans went public to ask that their names be stripped from Burrows’ list.

Within days, both Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick publicly urged fellow Republicans to support the GOP caucus’ pick for speaker, and the state Republican Party deployed hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertisements and text blasts dragging members who had voiced support for Burrows.

To the GOP base, Burrows was a Republican in na

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