Matthew McDade Phelan (born September 18, 1975) is an American real estate developer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he serves in Texas House of Representatives representing District 21, which includes most of Jefferson and all of Orange and Jasper counties in the southeast corner of the state. He served as the speaker of the Texas House of Representatives from 2021 to 2025.
Background
Phelan is a 1994 graduate of Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School in Beaumont and a 1998 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
Texas Legislature
From 2021 through 2024, Phelan was Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. He was previously Chair of the House Committee on State Affairs, on the Natural Resources Committee as Vice-Chair, the Calendars Committee, the Appropriations Committee, Elections Committee as well as the Select Committee on Ports, Innovation and Infrastructure. He is also a founding member of the House Criminal Justice Reform Caucus.
Texas Monthly recognized Phelan as one of the best legislators of 2019.
On December 2, 2020, Phelan was traveling in a private plane to meet Representative Trent Ashby when it crashed on landing during a rainstorm at Angelina County Airport near Lufkin, Texas. There were no serious injuries.
Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
On January 12, 2021, Phelan was elected the 76th Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.
Voting rights
On August 12, 2021, Phelan signed arrest warrants for the 52 Democratic lawmakers who had left the state to deny a
quorum. The lawmakers were attempting to block the passage of legislation considered by certain civil rights groups to restrict voting access to voters of color.
[Multiple sources:
] During the House debate on the bill, Phelan banned Texas representatives from using the word "racism".
Call for resignation and Paxton impeachment
On May 19, 2023, a Republican-led House committee came public with an investigation into Ken Paxton that had been ongoing since March of that year.
then called upon Phelan to resign due to "apparent debilitating intoxication" based on a video clip of Phelan struggling to speak during a House session.
Phelan's office characterized Paxton's statement as "a last-ditch effort to save face" given the timing on the investigation into Paxton going public that same day. That investigation led to the House formally
Impeachment Paxton on May 27 by a vote of 121–23.
On September 16, 2023, Ken Paxton was acquitted of all sixteen corruption charges brought at the impeachment trial.
2024 election
On February 10, 2024, Phelan was censured by the Texas Republican Party for the impeachment of Texas Attorney General
Ken Paxton.
During the 2024 Republican primary, Phelan was endorsed by former Texas governor
Rick Perry.
He faced a primary challenge by David Covey, the former Republican Chairman of Orange County. Covey was endorsed by attorney general Paxton,
lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, and former U.S. President
Donald Trump.
As no candidate received a majority of the vote in the first round, a runoff election was held. Phelan won the primary by 50.7% to Covey's 49.3%.
Phelan ran unopposed in the 2024 general election.
Child pornography
During the 2025 Texas state legislative session, Phelan emphasized the urgency of Texas Senate Bill 20 to deal with A.I. and child pornography, adding that they need to "put some guardrails on it to where the public is being taken care of."
The law creates new criminal offenses for those who possess, promote, or view visual material deemed
obscene, which is said to depict a child, whether it is an actual person, animated or cartoon depiction, or an image of someone created through computer software or artificial intelligence.
Personal life
Phelan is Catholic; he and his wife, Kimberly ( Ware) Phelan, have four children.
In 2024, the University of Texas at Austin recognized Phelan with the Presidential Citation Award.
Electoral history
External links
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