Speaker John A. Boehner set an Oct. 29 date for the full House to vote on his replacement, giving Republicans three weeks to get their troops in line and rally around Rep. Kevin McCarthy or whoever else emerges from this week’s internal GOP vote.
But the votes for the rest of the GOP leadership team will wait until later, Mr. Boehner announced — delivering a win to those seeking to shake up the current team, and giving insurgent Republicans more time to try to build support for going a different direction.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, meanwhile, stepped up his bid to win the speaker’s post, saying Mr. McCarthy can’t unify Republicans and saying his party is yearning for someone who can turn the page on the current set of leaders.
“It’s not as if this group has organically been chanting ’Chaffetz, Chaffetz.’ I get that. I get that,” he said. “What I’m offering myself is, can I be palatable to those people that desperately want this change?”
Mr. Boehner announced late last month that he would retire at the end of October, spurring both a scramble for leadership posts and soul-searching within a GOP whose membership has been at odds with each other for the better part of four years, bickering over both policy and procedure.
The House GOP, which has a majority in the chamber, must first figure out behind closed doors who it wants to be his replacement. That vote that will take place Thursday. The winner will then have to be ratified by the full House on Oct. 29, under Mr. Boehner’s schedule.
Mr. McCarthy, the current majority leader, is the clear front-runner, but Mr. Chaffetz’s bid means the California Republican won’t win by acclimation.
But should Mr. McCarthy prevail, he would give up his post as majority leader, sparking a new round of elections to fill his seat and any others that come open. Those subsequent elections will now be postponed until after a new speaker is sworn in, Mr. Boehner decided.
Those pushing for a broad rethink of the House GOP’s strategy said the delay was a victory in itself, because it gives the party more time to hash out some bigger problems.
“We need a plan, not just a person, to lead this historic majority in effectively serving the American people,” said Rep. Peter Roskam, Illinois Republican.
The speaker is a top constitutional post, just behind the vice president in the line of presidential succession, and is responsible for keeping order and defending the House as an institution. It is elected by the entire chamber.
Party leadership posts, however, are chosen within each caucus.
Mr. McCarthy, who has been majority leader for a year, is seeking to take over for Mr. Boehner. But while he has widespread support within the House GOP, Republicans said he has not sewn up enough backers to ensure he will earn 218 votes in the vote on the chamber floor later this month.
That’s created an opening for Mr. Chaffetz, who says he can be a consensus figure that both conservative and moderate Republicans can support.
In a lengthy session with reporters Monday, the congressman said he would democratize procedures in the House, pushing more power back to committees and allowing bills to come to the floor even if it’s not clear they can pass, saying it’s up to the entire chamber to work its will.
But he also rejected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s declaration that there would be no government shutdowns, saying it was a mistaken strategy to
“No, no, he’s absolutely flat-out wrong,” Mr. Chaffetz said, adding that Republican voters have been disillusioned after they were promised a GOP on offense this year, but haven’t seen it come to pass. “I am not going to lose any negotiating power and admit defeat before I’ve even started.”
Mr. Chaffetz said he learned a lesson from an incident earlier this year in which House leaders pressured him to oust Rep. Mark Meadows, North Carolina Republican, from a subcommittee chairmanship after he broke party ranks. Mr. Chaffetz eventually reconsidered and restored Mr. Meadows’ gavel.
“It was too harsh, I overextended myself, but I was also a good leader in that I listened and reconsidered and ultimately did the right thing. Unity within our party is going to come by winning the argument and maximizing participation, not by breaking knuckles,” he said.
Mr. Chaffetz also revealed he shares the same birthday as Democrats’ leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and each year sends her an invitation to eat a Five Guys hamburger together — to which, he said, she’s never responded.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.