Party still faces issue of how to reunite their fractious majority and prove to skeptical US public that they are capable of governing
The US House of Representatives will remain leaderless into a third week as Republicans continue to confront a familiar conundrum: how to unite their fractious majority and prove to a skeptical US public that they are a party capable of governing, not just funneling rightwing outrage and culture war rhetoric.
More than a week after a cadre of discontented Republicans deposed their own speaker, Kevin McCarthy, the conference is still deeply divided over who should replace him with no one candidate seemingly able to garner enough support to end the squabbling.
Congressman Steve Scalise, the House majority leader, won the first secret internal election to be the party’s nominee to be speaker on Wednesday but by Thursday evening he had withdrawn his consideration.
On Friday, Republicans met again and chose his challenger, congressman Jim Jordan of Ohio, a founder of the ultraconservative House Freedom caucus and one of Donald Trump’s most loyal allies on Capitol Hill. But the behind-closed-doors vote showed he was still a staggering 65 votes short of the 217 needed to get the job.
If Jordan were to eventually win – and a floor vote could now come on Tuesday next week – it would be a remarkable victory for the hard-right faction of Republican lawmakers. After years of driving their party’s speakers from power, they are now on the cusp of claiming the gavel for themselves.
But victory is far from certain in a Republican party once known for its iron discipline and ability to stay on message but now seen as a group of politicians scrapping for power and influence among themselves.
The long saga to elect a new speaker underscores the dramatic evolution of the House Republican conference, whose own members now fear may no longer be governable. As McCarthy’s short tenure proved, grievance not the gavel is the coin of the realm in present-day Republican House politics. And whenever there is a handful of discontented Republicans, dysfunction is likely to follow.
