Sessions pitches unity in his bid for speaker of the House, touts NRCC credentials

Speaker candidate Rep. Pete Sessions wants to shift House Republicans from fighting to fixing and believes he could if he wins the gavel. 

Mr. Sessions, 68, is one of seven candidates to jump into the race for speaker of the House following a closed-door vote to drop Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio as the conference’s speaker designate. 

Mr. Sessions of Texas told Fox News that it was time for the conference to come together following three weeks of spinning its wheels trying to elect a new speaker to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Infighting and growing frustrations have caused deepening divisions within the conference, and have left the lower chamber paralyzed for three weeks. After a resolution to empower temporary Speaker Patrick McHenry of North Carolina to begin legislative business again was killed behind closed doors, the only option for Republicans is to unite behind a speaker candidate. 

But they have failed to do so twice. 

“It’s my hope that my speakership would allow us not just to work together, but to achieve the things where people went from fight to fix and it’s that fight to fix transition that we need to get done,” Mr. Sessions said. 

Mr. Sessions is the longest-serving candidate vying for the gavel. He has two stints in Congress under his belt, with the first going from 1997 to 2019. He was then elected back to the House in 2021. 

The lawmakers chaired the House Rules Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee during that first stint. 

Mr. Sessions pointed to his success as NRCC chair as a selling point for his ability to unify a fractured conference. He said that Republicans were 40 seats back in 2009, but under his watch the conference was able to scoop up 63 seats. That historic turnaround over a decade ago clinched the majority for Republicans.

Mr. Sessions said he was able to do it because over 90 Republicans worked together to win the majority back.  

“When we work together, we’re very effective and we get our job done,” Mr. Sessions said. “We’re a little bit divided. It’s time to come together. I believe that I can do exactly that.”