House Republicans take another run off the cliff
Byron York
HOUSE REPUBLICANS TAKE ANOTHER RUN OFF THE CLIFF. Tuesday marked the beginning of the second phase of the House Republicans‘ search for a speaker. In phase one, the first three weeks of the drama, GOP lawmakers eliminated the top three party leaders in the House — Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Jim Jordan (R-OH) — from consideration as speaker. Now, in phase two, they are looking at the second tier of possibilities. Is there a speaker in there somewhere?
You will be shocked to learn that it is not going smoothly. Republicans returned to Washington on Monday evening to begin meetings in which speaker candidates made the case for themselves. On Tuesday, they voted, starting with eight candidates. It took five ballots before Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN), the GOP whip and front-runner going in, secured the party’s approval in a secret ballot vote.
The only problem was that 26 Republicans voted against Emmer. Remember that when the speaker’s election moves to the full House, Emmer will have to win a majority of House votes, not just the votes of Republicans. In the full House vote, Emmer will have to win 217 votes to become speaker. With a total of 221 Republicans in the House, Emmer could lose no more than four votes and still win. And he was starting 26 short.
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So that didn’t look good. Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News posted, “Emmer’s bid for Speaker is just a few hours old — but it’s on the ropes.”
Then, with Emmer weakened even after winning the secret ballot, former President Donald Trump, who was widely known to oppose the Emmer bid privately, went public with a Truth Social post calling Emmer a “RINO,” or “Republican in name only,” and saying that voting for Emmer would be a “tragic mistake.” That was it for Emmer. Within an hour after Trump’s post, Emmer dropped out of the race.
So now, just as they did in phase one of the speaker drama, Republicans have eliminated the top-tier candidate in a new round of searching for a speaker. Who’s next? Perhaps Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), who is well thought of in the Republican conference. Johnson and Reps. Mark Green (R-TN) and Kevin Hern (R-OK), who are also well thought of, had also jumped into the race as GOP lawmakers went into a Tuesday night meeting.
But there is a difference between being well thought of and winning 217 votes. Right now, Republicans still have no idea who can do that.
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