Changes

==Political career==

==Political career==

To win the Speakership, Straus, armed with [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] backing, unseated fellow Republican [[Tom Craddick]] of [[Midland]], Texas, the senior member of the state House and its first ever Republican Speaker, a post that he held from 2003 to 2009.

To win the Speakership, Straus, armed with [[Democratic Party|Democratic]] backing, unseated fellow Republican [[Tom Craddick]] of [[Midland]], Texas, the senior member of the state House and its first ever Republican Speaker, a post that Craddick held from 2003 to 2009.

In the final weeks of 2010, a movement developed among some [[conservative]] Republican citizens and political figures to replace Straus as Speaker. State Republican Executive Committee member John Cook wrote in an [[e-mail]] to a colleague: "We elected a house with [[Christian]], conservative values. We now want a true Christian, conservative running it." The dissident conservatives stressed that their opposition to Straus is not because he is [[Jewish]] but that the Speaker should have [[pro-life]], pro-family values.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/09/christian-conservative-replace-jewish-speaker-texan-pols-say/</ref>

In the final weeks of 2010, a movement developed among some [[conservative]] Republican citizens and political figures to replace Straus as Speaker. State Republican Executive Committee member John Cook wrote in an [[e-mail]] to a colleague: "We elected a house with [[Christian]], conservative values. We now want a true Christian, conservative running it." The dissident conservatives stressed that their opposition to Straus is not because he is [[Jewish]] but that the Speaker should have [[pro-life]], pro-family values.<ref>http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/12/09/christian-conservative-replace-jewish-speaker-texan-pols-say/</ref>