Tom Craddick wins Texas House speakership, completing the GOP takeover of the legislature

Texas Republicans elected Tom Craddick as Speaker of the Texas House on January 14, 2003, making him the first Republican speaker since Reconstruction and completing the party's takeover of all three branches of state government. Craddick immediately coordinated with U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to call a special session for a mid-decade congressional redistricting, an unprecedented move outside the normal post-census cycle. The redistricting plan passed that October eliminated five Democratic-held congressional seats and extended the Republican House majority nationally.