Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows has expressed his desire to explore the possibility of annexing parts of oil-rich southeast New Mexico, despite New Mexico officials stating it is not up for grabs. Burrows, a Republican, argued that southeast New New Mexico was more Lubbock than Santa Fe and deserves a real voice in its future, not one dictated by Santa Fe. His legislative priorities include studying the constitutional, statutory, fiscal and economic implications of adding "one or more" contiguous counties of New Mexico to Texas. This follows an unsuccessful attempt by Lovington Republican Rep. Randall Pettigrew to allow New Mexico counties to choose to secede from the state.