A crowded field of GOP lawmakers is competing for the House speaker’s job, now that the three leading Republican candidates have struck out in their attempts to secure enough votes to win the gavel.
Nine Republicans have announced they are running for House speaker and will address party lawmakers at a private candidates forum Monday night at the Capitol.
None appears to have an easy path to victory, as the House enters another week unable to legislate without a speaker.
The long list of candidates formed after Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio struck out on Friday in his third attempt to win the speaker’s gavel on the House floor.
Republicans had previously voted to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy and then failed to provide enough votes to elect Majority Leader Steve Scalise as speaker.
The latest round of GOP hopefuls includes Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and, despite his leadership status, he’s no shoo-in.
SEE ALSO: Republicans face crowded House speaker race as poll shows voters growing tired of chaos
Mr. Emmer, who previously ran the House GOP’s fundraising arm, is among the Republicans who did not vote to block congressional certification of President Biden’s 2020 election. Some in the pro-Trump wing of the party are lobbying against Mr. Emmer for speaker and he’s likely to face opposition from the same hardline conservatives who pushed out Mr. McCarthy on Oct. 3.
Other candidates on the list include Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, who is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus that was founded and led by Mr. Jordan.
Mr. Donalds, a staunch Trump supporter, won the backing of one of Mr. Jordan’s GOP holdouts, Rep. Carlos Gimenez of Florida.
“Byron is the present & future of our movement. He’s the conservative leader we need to unite us as Republicans,” Mr. Gimenez said.
Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern of Oklahoma is also running for speaker, as is GOP Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson of Louisiana.
Reps. Pete Sessions of Texas, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, Jack Bergman of Minnesota and Gary Palmer of Alabama are declared candidates, according to a list provided by Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, of New York.
The nine candidates will speak to rank-and-file Republicans Monday night at the closed-door forum. On Tuesday, Republicans will gather again privately and vote to whittle down the list to a single nominee who wins a majority of GOP votes.
The surviving candidate will then have to overcome the same problem that pushed out Mr. McCarthy, of California, and blocked Mr. Jordan of Ohio and Mr. Scalise of Louisiana: Winning the support of 217 GOP lawmakers on the House floor, where Democrats also cast a vote for speaker and plan to back their Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
As the leadership stalemate drags on, Republicans are mulling a backup plan to elect Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina to serve as temporary speaker. Mr. McHenry has been appointed to the role, but under House rules, he is limited to conducting the speaker’s election unless he’s voted in by the House.
The House hasn’t been operational since Mr. McCarthy’s Oct. 3 ouster. Lawmakers must address new funding requests from President Biden to assist Ukraine and Israel and are facing a Nov. 17 federal spending deadline.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
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