John Smithee dropped his day-old bid for speaker, citing insurmountable support for his fellow Republican, Joe Straus.
"The numbers became obvious," Smithee said. "We had to get some of our people back, and we went the other way... I knew the odds were very long, so it was either surrender yesterday [Sunday] or try something. I've tried to do it in a respectful and courteous and professional way, and I hope that I've done that."
Smithee talked to reporters outside his office and then issued a statement from him and from Rep. Dan Gattis, who is also dropping his bid:
"It has become apparent in the last 12 hours that Rep. Straus carries enough votes to become the next speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, and that any effort to challenge him is not in the best interest of the Texas House. As a result, we are both withdrawing our candidacies for speaker. Our priority is to take the focus off speaker politics and concentrate on how we can best serve the people of Texas in the 81st Legislature."
Straus followed with one of his own:
"John Smithee is my friend and a highly respected leader in the House. I appreciated his courteous phone call moments ago and notification of his withdrawal. John's difficult decision and gracious gesture is another step towards unity in the House."
Rep. Will Hartnett of Dallas, walking out of a meeting with Smithee said a group of Republicans who'd supported the Amarillo rep will drop their opposition to Straus, who had locked up nearly two-thirds of the House.
Speaker Tom Craddick dropped his reelection bid on Sunday, citing his own loss of support. The Republicans who supported him — 55 or 57 of them, depending on the account — voted unanimously to support Smithee after considering him, Gattis, and three other alternatives to Straus. That effort, sealed Sunday night, was over less than a day later.
Straus was the pick of a group of 11 ABC — Anybody But Craddick — Republicans who banded together, voted amongst themselves and agreed to support the winner of that vote. Straus won that ballot Friday night, spent Saturday and most of Sunday gathering votes, and announced he'd collected enough of them before Craddick's Sunday meeting.
Straus' numbers grew throughout the day Monday, leading to conversations between the two and finally, up to Smithee's withdrawal.