In Washington House Republicans will meet behind closed doors on Tuesday morning to choose a new speaker, their third try at doing so, three weeks after Kevin McCarthy was removed from office.
Republicans have been unable to agree on a replacement for McCarthy, R-Calif., due to a GOP civil war. A probable government shutdown is less than a month away, and battles are happening in the Middle East and Ukraine. As a result, the GOP’s two prior selections withdrew after failing to garner the votes necessary to win on the floor. This put the House in an unprecedented state of chaos.
“American leadership is required while the world burns around us. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., emphasized the need for his colleagues to move on and rally around a new leader on NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW,” adding that the House of Representatives cannot function if there is not a full complement of American leadership.
“The world is watching, and our enemies are listening. And, you know, that doesn’t look good on the democratic institutions that we have all promised to protect,” he continued. Let’s hope and pray that this week will be it once more.
Republicans will choose one speaker from the eight stated candidates by secret ballot. The lowest vote-getter in each round on Tuesday will be eliminated, and so on, until just one candidate receives a simple majority of the participants. Even then, there is no certainty that the party’s nominee will succeed in winning the speaker’s gavel in a floor vote that may take place as early as Tuesday.
The next Republican nominee will need the backing of 217 of the 221 GOP lawmakers due to the narrow margin of the GOP’s majority and the Democrats’ unification around Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
Both of the party’s previous choices, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Chairman of the Judiciary Committee Jim Jordan of Ohio, fell far short of that threshold and were forced to withdraw. Jordan’s decision to withdraw from the campaign on Friday following three unsuccessful floor votes and a coworker vote of no confidence sparked a scramble to fill the vacuum.
By the weekend deadline, nine candidates had entered the race, including Minnesota’s Majority Whip Tom Emmer, the third-ranking Republican and chief vote-counter and front-runner for the nomination. Another was the unknown Rep. Dan Meuser of Michigan, a former business executive who withdrew from the race Monday night just after making his case to other contenders.
The likelihood that the following nominee will receive 217 votes is far from certain. While their colleagues were meeting on Monday, some members, like Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), informed reporters that they would not sign a “unity” pledge to support the speaker-designate until they knew who it was.
A member of the Freedom Caucus named Norman declared, “I’m not going to do that.”
Another difficulty is that the vote to remove Jordan from office gave certain usually silent elements, like as Republicans from swing districts, more clout. Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-NY, one of them, changed his vote on Jordan from “yes” to “no” and declared on Monday that members of swing districts “intend to leverage our votes” and choose a new speaker who is sympathetic to their concerns.
“I want a speaker who recognizes the unique interests of members like mine and the constituents I represent,” said Molinaro.
Emmer, GOP Conference Vice Chair Mike Johnson of Louisiana, GOP Policy Committee Chairman Gary Palmer of Alabama, Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, a former McDonald’s franchise owner who sent burgers to colleagues on Monday, former Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions of Texas, Byron Donalds of Florida, a member of the far-right, and Jack Bergman of Michigan, a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general, are the eight candidates who are still in the race.
Nine people announced to us. Prior to Meuser’s withdrawal on Monday evening, Womack stated, “We have easily another nine, or perhaps 90, who look in the mirror and see the next speaker of the House. “So I would just tell you that we’ve got to coalesce around somebody.”
Emmer, Johnson, and Hern are three of the eight who are still in the race. They spoke on the phone with former president Donald Trump, who stated he would probably not support anyone on Tuesday. While acknowledging the challenge of garnering 217 votes in the House, Trump had supported Jordan.
“That threshold’s floor is a real challenge. I said that just one person is capable of finishing it. You’re aware of who that is? During a trip to New Hampshire on Monday, Trump referred to Jesus Christ. “If he came down and declared, ‘I want to be speaker,’ he would accept the position. Other than that, I haven’t come across anyone who can promise it.
Rep. Mark Alford, R-Mo., noted that during a recent GOP meeting, a lawmaker stood up and declared that even Jesus couldn’t be elected speaker with this majority.
At a closed-door candidates discussion on Monday night, the speaker candidates answered inquiries from their peers about their plans for the conference and their stances on several issues, such as the impending shutdown and assistance for Ukraine.