Meet Dade
Dade Phelan represents Texas House District 21 in Southeast Texas and serves as the 76th Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives. First elected to the Texas House in 2014, he is currently serving his fourth term as State Representative for HD21, which covers Orange County, part of Jefferson County, and Jasper County. He was elected House Speaker in 2021.
Phelan is a conservative champion who has taken the values of the people of Southeast Texas to Austin to preside over two legislative sessions that have been hailed as the most conservative in Texas history. Under his leadership as Speaker, the Legislature has passed laws to fight the woke agenda and protect kids from gender ideology, secure the border and build the wall, rein in “Big Tech”, protect the unborn, ban critical race theory and DEI, pass constitutional carry, and protect our religious freedoms, among others. Session after session, Phelan has fought for increased funding for flood control and mitigation projects, in addition to securing tuition reductions and millions of dollars in funding for higher education, which have had positive impacts on Lamar University and Lamar State Colleges.
Prior to his election as Speaker, Phelan served as Chair of the House Committee on State Affairs, Vice-Chair of the Natural Resources Committee, member of the Calendars, Appropriations, and Elections Committees, and the Select Committee on Ports, Innovations and Infrastructure.
Phelan also served as president and two-time Governor appointee to the Lower Neches Valley Authority. He has served on boards including the Texas Lyceum, Southeast Texas CASA, Golden Triangle Coastal Conservation Association, The Jefferson Theater, St. Anne Catholic Church, and Catholic Charities of Southeast Texas.
He was named as one of the Best Legislators of the 86th legislative session by Texas Monthly in 2019. He has also earned numerous accolades recognizing his legislative service, including Capitol Inside’s “Most Valuable Sophomore Member” in 2017 and one of their “Most Outstanding Freshmen Legislators” in 2015. Phelan was named Legislative Champion by the Boys and Girls Club of Texas, Legislator of the Year by the Texas Apartment Association, Guardian of Small Businesses by the National Federation of Independent Business, Most Valuable Legislator by the Texas Association of Community Schools, Fighter for Free Enterprise by the Texas Association of Business and the 2019 Mental Health Champion by Mental Health America.
In addition to his duties as Speaker of the House and State Representative, Phelan works as a real estate developer at his family's fourth generation commercial real estate development firm, which owns and manages retail, industrial and office property in Texas and Arkansas. His wife, Kim, is a solo practitioner attorney and together they have four sons. He and his family reside together in Southeast Texas, where Speaker Phelan was born and raised.