Conservative Rep. Hern eyeing to join race for speaker’s gavel

Rep. Kevin Hern, the chair of the largest conservative caucus in the House, will likely jump into the race for the speaker’s gavel.

Mr. Hern, Oklahoma Republican, attended the Texas Republican delegation lunch Wednesday, where lawmakers from the largest GOP delegation in the House heard stump speeches from Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

Mr. Jordan and Mr. Scalise have confirmed their intentions to make a bid for the gavel, less than 24 hours after Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California’s historic outster as speaker.

Mr. Hern was more noncommittal on his intentions to run when he left the meeting. He said that he was “trying to find where support might be,” but insisted that he has never discussed running and that being the speaker was not his “main issue” when running for Congress.

“When I came here, my issue was, ‘come make a difference,’ and if this is part of making a difference, and people want me to run, and then I’ll certainly look at it,” Mr. Hern said.

Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas contradicted Mr. Hern, however, telling reporters after the lunch that the potential candidate made it clear to other lawmakers in the closed-door meeting that he is running for speaker.

Mr. Hern’s office told The Washington Times that there was a miscommunication in the meeting, and that Mr. Hern had not committed to running during the lunch.

Mr. Hern chairs the Republican Study Committee, which boasts over 150 members and is the largest conservative caucus in the House. That means that Mr. Hern’s possible bid for the gavel could come preloaded with supporters across the conservative spectrum in the conference.

When asked what sets him apart from the other confirmed candidates running for the position, Mr. Hern said that Mr. Scalise and Mr. Jordan were his friends, and that he had a drastically different background from them as a businessman.

“This is not about running against them, it’s about running on what our record is. I’m very conservative, I’m not abashed by that and I challenge anybody’s record against mine that’s running,” Mr. Hern said.