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October 21, 2019      5:19 PM

SB: Bonnen survival gambit puts Republican members in the firing line with primary voters, exactly what they hoped to avoid in choosing him

After a caucus showdown, Bonnen lived to fight another day but in doing so placed the members in the same box many faced toward the end of Straus’ tenure with grassroots activists demanding to know if they’ll continue to support the speaker

BARTON CREEK RESORT – “There will be a speaker’s race,” said a senior Republican amid a two-day caucus retreat that saw Speaker Dennis Bonnen live to fight another day while grassroots activists and a growing number of members called on him to relinquish the gavel. Even some who are not part of “The X Men” have started to come out against him. Those announcements will no doubt continue to trickle in.

Despite the standing ovation for Bonnen at the gala dinner headlined by Karl Rove, genuine anger was roiling under the surface and the Bonnen camp seemed more concerned about the potential of criminal charges than they’d admit publicly, per several Republican members. Among other reasons, some theorized that perhaps a scandal involving such hostility toward cities and counties won’t be overlooked by a District Attorney whose husband is the city manager in Lake Jackson.

“I think they’re pretty pro-local government in that household,” said one longtime observer of Brazoria County politics.

By Scott Braddock

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