LUBBOCK, Texas -- Lubbock republican Dustin Burrows was elected speaker of the Texas House of Representatives on Tuesday. Here's a timeline of the lawmaker's political career, and how he got to the gavel. Dustin Burrows was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives in November of 2014, after Charles Perry left the district 83 position for the state senate. He defeated democrat Max R. Tarbox for the job. He ran unopposed in 2016 and won re-election for a second time in 2018 against democrat Drew Landry. Lubbock’s Dustin Burrows chosen as Texas House speaker For that term, he was appointed Chair of the Ways and Means committee by then-speaker Dennis Bonnen and was also elected to chair the House GOP Caucus. He resigned from leading House Republicans after an accusation that he and Speaker Bonnen were offering press credentials in exchange for targeting moderate republicans who were seeking re-election. But an investigation into the matter by the Texas Rangers found no laws were broken. ‘High value’ migrants, drugs likely came across border tunnel During the same term, he authored legislation that facilitated public school finance reform and lowered property taxes.  In 2020, he was re-elected for a third time, with the endorsement of Governor Greg Abbott, defeating democrat Addison Perry-Franks. Speaker Dade Phelan appointed Burrows Chair of House Calendars committee for that term, arguably the second-most powerful position in the chamber, next to the Speaker, because the position oversees the timeline and the order in which bills are heard on the floor, effectively giving some control over which ones have the possibility of becoming law. What to make of the final polling of the Biden years Burrows chaired the House investigative committee into the Robb Elementary Shooting in 2022 and subsequently authored HB3, a bill that requires armed security on school public school campuses. It was signed into law by Gov. Abbott on June 13, 2023. Burrows fought off republican challenger Wade Cowan in a March 2024 primary election that brought Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Railroad Commissioner Sid Miller to Lubbock to endorse his opponent and Governor Abbott, in the flesh, to endorse Burrows once again. He was unchallenged in November. Texas enters budget cycle with nearly $24B surplus Burrows’ path to the gavel was not without controversy. He filed to run in the eleventh hour after then-incumbent speaker Dade Phelan withdrew his bid for re-election the day before the filing deadline.  Traffic has gotten way worse in every city in Texas, except for one After a vote by secret ballot House Republicans in December, Rep. David Cook of Mansfield won the endorsement of the House GOP caucus for Speaker of the Texas House. But that victory only came after two rounds of stalemate votes with Dustin Burrows. Burrows claimed that day he had the votes to be speaker without the endorsement of the caucus. What ensued would be a campaign that cost unprecedented dollars for a race in which constituents do not directly vote and a season marked with eroding bonds within the Texas Republican party. Texas cities with the most people working from home Burrows won the gavel in a runoff election with Rep. Cook on the first day of the 89th legislative session with a vote of 85 to 55, with nine members marked present but not voting. Ana-Maria Ramos, a democrat from Dallas, also ran for speaker but was eliminated in the first vote.