To other Republican House caucus members……
The House is hearing from eight candidates for the gavel as it approaches a full three weeks without a Speaker.
Two Speaker nominees have dropped out of the race after it became clear they would be unable to get 217 votes on the House floor. Some lawmakers are expressing pessimism about anyone being able to get over that threshold.
But Republicans are set to try again. They are holding a Speaker forum Monday evening to hear from the nine candidates who filed to run for the position and hold an internal election on Tuesday.
The eight in the race are: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), House Republican Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson (R-La.), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), and Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Ala.).
Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pa.) dropped out Monday night…..
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Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) told reporters on Monday that if he wins the GOP nomination for Speaker, he will not take his candidacy to the House floor unless he has 217 votes within the conference.
If all members are present and vote for a specific candidate, the winner will need 217 votes to clinch the gavel on the House floor…
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Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), the vice chairman of the House GOP conference, predicted that the group is “probably gonna go a number of rounds” during its internal election to nominate a Speaker candidate.
“It may be a long day,” Johnson told reporters following Monday night’s candidate forum.
“I think it’s a healthy process and I think everybody has a great attitude about it,” he continued. “I really am optimistic about where we are.”…
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Rep. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.), a retired Marine Corps lieutenant general and a fourth-term lawmaker, said he told GOP members Monday night that he will only run for one term as Speaker.
“I thought it was the right thing to do,” he told reporters when asked if he committed to only running one term as Speaker….
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Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) said that all eight candidates for Speaker committed to not bring an omnibus spending bill to the House floor — renewing a commitment from former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)….
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Emmer came out of the candidate forum saying things had gone well.
“I thought it was great conversation. I love, the members were all involved, my colleagues that are all running. It was great,” he said.
Asked why he’s the best person to lead the conference, Emmer responded, “I’ve made my case. We’ll see what the numbers say tomorrow.”…
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