House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Jim Jordan both jumped into the race Wednesday to become the next House speaker, setting up a fight to replace Kevin McCarthy after his historic ouster.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Rep. Jim Jordan both jumped into the race Wednesday to become the next House speaker, setting up a fight to replace Kevin McCarthy after his historic ouster.
House Republicans are even more bitterly divided in the aftermath of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster and his decision not to run again. It remains to be seen whether the conference can coalesce around a viable successor to the California Republican.
The stakes are extremely high as Congress faces down a looming shutdown deadline in mid-November. The House is essentially paralyzed while it lacks a speaker.
On the other hand, him not running again is a big "fuck you" to them, too, because while I think he's a terrible person, he was the one politician both sides could kind of coalesce around. Now that he's gone, it's highlighted the absolute chaos that exists between the Fascism Caucus and the moderate Republicans, since they really can't agree who should be next.
Either way, I can't imagine it's endearing to their moderate supporters, and they need them in the next election; the crazies might be reliable, but they're too small of a bloc on their own.
Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern, who chairs a conservative group known as the Republican Study Committee said Wednesday he is still looking at running for speaker and has not made a decision yet.
Potential contenders who are said to be interested for whip: Rep. Drew Ferguson of Georgia, who lost and ran last time, or Rep.
House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik is also calling colleagues and allies about potentially moving up the chain in leadership, a source familiar said.
Jordan made a pitch for unity in a letter to House GOP colleagues obtained by CNN.
As speaker, McCarthy presided over a narrow majority and had to confront criticism from hardline conservatives, who threw up roadblocks to the leadership agenda and protested legislation that passed with Democratic support.
His ouster, led by GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, came soon after he averted a government shutdown by passing a bipartisan stopgap funding bill.
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Republicans hold a slim majority, so it would only take a few flips to elect Jeffries as speaker. Whether any republicans are upset enough to flip is anyone's guess.
If any Republicans want to talk it doesn't absolutely have to be Jeffries. He is the Democrats first choice but they are the minority party and may be willing to give a little for a coalition that elects a Democrat as speaker.
Given the chaos of getting mccarthy appointed, and the likelihood that no speaker will make concessions to the freedom caucus after what just happened, I'm actually kinda pulling for a few flips. Probably won't happen, but after another 15 votes who knows?
They all suck, but bow-tie guy who is currently filling in the position seems like one of the less crazy options (despite kicking Pelosi out of her office).