Meet the Republicans Running for Speaker
Category: News & Politics
Via: hallux • last year • 36 commentsBy: Catie Edmondson and Luke Broadwater - NYT
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Nine Republicans have announced that they will run for speaker, after the party cast aside Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio as its latest nominee for the leadership post.
A flood of lawmakers began campaigning just hours after Republicans voted in a closed-door meeting to restart the nomination process after Mr. Jordan, his support ebbing, failed on a third floor vote to win the speakership. The vote essentially ensured that the office of the speaker would remain empty for a third week.
The lawmakers vying for the job include veterans of the House, committee chairmen, a top member of Republican leadership and a sophomore. Virtually none have the kind of commanding national profile normally required of the speaker, who is not only second in line to the presidency but a key fund-raiser for their party’s efforts to protect and expand its majority.
They will have to navigate the same treacherous dynamics of a bitterly divided conference that the three men before them could not, leaving some Republicans openly questioning whether anyone can win a majority of votes on the House floor.
All candidates except for two — Representatives Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Austin Scott of Georgia — voted to object to certifying President Biden’s 2020 victory in least one state.
All candidates except for three — Representatives Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Gary Palmer of Alabama — voted in support of a stopgap spending bill put forward by Kevin McCarthy, the speaker at the time, to avert a shutdown. Representative Byron Donalds of Florida was absent for the vote.
Here are the Republicans who are running for speaker.
Tom Emmer of Minnesota
Mr. Emmer, 62, is the highest-ranking Republican in the race. Endorsed by Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Emmer is the No. 3 Republican in the House, whose job is to “whip,” or count votes, to pass the speaker’s agenda.
A former college ice hockey player and coach, Mr. Emmer has allies among both the conservative and the establishment wings of the party.
Mr. Emmer served two terms as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, helping Republican candidates across the country win elections and making inroads across the conference in the process.
Austin Scott of Georgia
Mr. Scott, 53, was a surprise candidate for the speaker nomination last week, garnering 81 votes in the conference against the better-known Mr. Jordan.
He is also an ally of Mr. McCarthy and expressed outrage at the Californian’s ouster at the hands of far-right rebels, denouncing them as “nothing more than grifters.”
Byron Donalds of Florida
Mr. Donalds, 44, a member of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, is a favorite of the party’s right wing. This is only his second term in Congress; he won his Naples-based district in 2020.
A native New Yorker, he received as many as 20 votes for speaker on the House floor in January during the prolonged fight that resulted in Mr. McCarthy emerging as speaker.
Kevin Hern of Oklahoma
Mr. Hern, 61, is the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group committed to advancing conservative ideology that a majority of the Republican conference belongs to. The post often serves as a springboard to leadership positions. Mr. Jordan and Mr. Scalise, as well as former Vice President Mike Pence, all have led the committee.
Mr. Hern has the conservative credentials that could assuage the hard-right lawmakers who bedeviled Mr. McCarthy, but he is seen as a more moderate option than Mr. Jordan.
Nicknamed the “McCongressman” for his previous ownerships of 18 McDonald’s franchises, Mr. Hern, a former aerospace engineer, was elected to the House in 2018.
Gary Palmer of Alabama
A former walk-on wide receiver for the University of Alabama, Mr. Palmer, 69, is the longtime chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, making him the No. 5 Republican in the House.
Jack Bergman of Michigan
Few people outside of his district may be familiar with Mr. Bergman. A retired Marine Corps lieutenant general, Mr. Bergman, 76, represents Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and the northern half of the Lower Peninsula.
A highly decorated naval aviator, Mr. Bergman has earned cachet with many of the mainstream conservatives — several of whom are military veterans themselves — who opposed Mr. Jordan’s candidacy and want an experienced leader at the helm. Mr. Bergman has presented himself as a temporary option who would work to “steady the ship” and return normalcy to the House.
“What we need right now is a speaker who has experience leading and can put ego aside to work together for the American people,” Mr. Bergman said in a statement. “We need a leader who shuns permanent power and recognizes the current crisis of leadership.”
Mike Johnson of Louisiana
Mr. Johnson, 51, is a lawyer who is the former chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee.
An evangelical Christian who is a member of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Johnson was a key architect of Republicans’ objections to certifying the victory of Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Jan. 6, 2021. Many Republicans in Congress relied on his arguments.
He is an ally and supporter of Mr. Jordan who only considered moving forward with his own bid for speaker after Mr. Jordan fell short.
Pete Sessions of Texas
Mr. Sessions, 68, is the longest-serving member of Congress so far who is considering running for speaker, first serving from 1997 to 2019. After he was defeated in 2018 by a Democrat, Mr. Sessions ran for a seat in a neighboring district and prevailed, returning to Congress in 2021. He has previously served as the chairman of the House Republican campaign committee and as chairman of the powerful Rules committee.
Mr. Sessions participated in a 2019 campaign by Trump allies targeting Marie L. Yovanovitch, the ambassador to Ukraine, writing to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that she should be fired for repeatedly expressing “disdain” for the Trump administration. (Mr. Trump recalled her in April of that year.)
Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania
Mr. Meuser, 59, was elected to Congress in 2018, after serving as his state’s secretary of revenue. He told the National Review that he was considering running for speaker because “I’m not gonna let this kindergarten continue.”
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They are all men, so that box is checked.
And 90% of them are white
Is that somehow disqualifying?
Slim pickings.
He was so good in Dr. Strangelove and Blazing Saddles.
Austin Scott looks to be overweight.
An endearing quality.
all 2020 election deniers should be disqualified. that leaves just 2 candidates out of that bunch...
Much like Liz Cheney, Emmer is a traditional far right conservative that didn't buy into MAGA populism. The talk from various outlets over the weekend seem to elevate Emmer as the most likely candidate (they really have no clue of course) so there is a backlash campaign going on in the Freedom Caucus and associated groups.
I'm not familiar with all the candidates, but I doubt there is a true moderate among them.
At this point, I am good with anyone as long as they are not a Trump sycophant.
I'm not the only one who thinks that the party is running full tilt that way no matter who gets the gavel. Too much of the party leadership has already sold their souls to MAGA. At this point I'm surprised anyone outside the populists wants the job anyway. Ken Buck is being evicted from his home office just because he voted against Jordan.
You know that my position is that the GoP has lost its way due to Trump fever. I will hope for an improvement but do not expect any. Just look around at all those who are now going all in defending Trump because they know he will be their nominee. It is a pathetic sight.
Here's an example:
This is all I need.
I need assurances that Trump Populism will not be tolerated. Until then my old party is dead to me.
I do not think that is possible for at least a few years.
I'm sure you are correct. It will take losing a couple more elections before the spinless career politicians finally get that message.
I think the GOP electorate is the one that needs to get the message.
I think the MAGA populist electorate doesn't care. Populists of any stripe seem, at least to me, to have an entitlement mentality.
The MAGA electorate is a lost cause. They need to be defeated. The balance of the GOP needs to break free of going with the flow since they have allowed the MAGA momentum to rule the GOP.
Just look at all those who do not want Trump but will dutifully fall in line to vote for that miserable human being because he has the momentum.
replace the GOP elephant with a spineless jellyfish...
I don't know how they do that given no alternatives. Cheney says she hasn't given up a Presidential run, but at this point I don't see anyone not named Trump winning the nomination. Given that I don't see the GoP winning nationally with any candidate running on a populists platform.
I do not expect a GOP epiphany will happen for this election cycle. I am talking down the road.
Or a lemming.
In other words the House is going to be completely incapacitated until 2025.
This group, collectively, got one whole vote the other day. That was for Emmer.
Seems promising. /s
And the guy that voted for Emmer did it because he said he didn't like him and thought it would be a punishment for Emmer.
Emmer was picked last night to go to a floor vote. Trump has called Emmer a RINO, so he would likely get my vote.
Just for clarification - last night 8 of the 9 Reps gave a short speak about why they should be Speaker. The other used his time to withdraw. This morning there were 5 votes in which Emmer came out on top. I'm still waiting on when the House will be called to session for a vote. It might not be today, because several populists may need more persuasion to vote for Emmer and close this out.
So tonight their will be a conference vote to pick who will be promoted on the House floor on Tuesday. There has been a push for a loyalty pledge to back whomever wins tonight's vote so there would be no repeats of the last few weeks, but not everyone has pledged and not everyone backs the perceived leading candidates. The divide between the populist Freedom Caucus and everyone else might be a divide too far to bridge?
In my opinion, we need a Speaker of the House who can easily garner the votes of Democrats and Republicans because the House is so evenly divided. What the country really needs is to separate the party structure from control over house activities.
Have anybody in mind?
Possibly. But we really need a lot of things we're never going to do
I'll hold out to see what comes out after this morning's GOP meeting, but based on last night's GOP meeting I don't think we'll get a new Speaker today.
After 5 rounds of voting in conference Tom Emmer has been selected to go to a floor vote.
that should be good for some hilarity. after 3 weeks of public humiliation, let's see how their loyalty pledges hold up...