Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R) announced “he will not run for re-election in 2018, a decision that has the potential to upend the political balance of power in the state,” the Texas Tribune reports.

“Straus, who has lately been the most powerful moderate Republican in the Texas Capitol, said he will serve until the end of his term.”

“His decision will immediately set in motion a scrum for control of the House, pitting arch-conservative members who have opposed him against more centrist Republicans who have backed Straus… Tea Party leaders and their allies have blamed Straus for killing controversial measures backed by the hard right, most notably a  bill that would have regulated which bathrooms transgender Texans could use.”