Rep. Gene Woo (D-Houston) also disclosed negotiations with candidates running for Speaker of the House.
HOUSTON — State Rep. Gene Wu (D-Houston) has been sworn in as the new leader of the Texas House of Representatives Democrats.
And as lawmakers prepare for the 89th Congress to begin on Jan. 14, the Houston Democrat remains as outspoken as ever.
“Democrats, we are the main actors at this point,” Rep. Wu told Inside Texas Politics. “There are two factions of the Republican Party that don’t like each other one bit and can’t stand each other. And now the Democrats are saying, ‘We’re closer to you than you are to each other.’ So anyone who wants our hand in this relationship, come and get it. ”
Congressman Wu has been busy after recently being elected as the new chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus.
House Democrats are at their lowest level in years, holding only 62 seats in the Texas House of Representatives compared to 88 Republicans.
Wu said the Democratic Party’s strategy to maintain a presence in Congress is to finally do what the party has been talking about for years.
“Democrats are consistently going after Republicans and fighting on the battlefield of their own choosing,” he said. “And I think Democrats need to come out and talk about the things that Democrats have cared about for a long time: wages, health care costs, health care costs.” Food costs, housing costs, insurance costs, the power grid – all of these things are important to everyday Texans. ”
As lawmakers prepare to elect the next speaker of the House, Wu is already pushing to expand the party’s reach, currently between Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) and Rep. David Cook (R-Mansfield). It is contested. .
Wu said he expects the Democratic Party to become more aggressive under him, and said that starts with the party trying to extract concessions from its speaker candidates. Wu said he personally supports Burroughs and has told Republicans he doesn’t mind releasing the congressman’s name. But he said the party as a whole would support the candidate who offered the best terms.
“Right now, Mr. Burrows has offered the best deal to Democrats that I know of,” said Rep. Wu.
As for the exact proposal, Wu said the details would be kept private.
But Democrats said that in a general sense, it ranges from administration, such as how rules are enforced, to legislation, to whether candidates for House speaker will be allowed to vote on specific topics, such as abortion exceptions.
“We are still negotiating and working to obtain further concessions,” Wu said. “But again, David Cook is also speaking to us, and we’re saying, ‘What can you offer us? Tell us, for example, if you If you offer us more favorable terms, we will go with you.’
