WASHINGTON — Of the nine Republicans running for House speaker, seven voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results that made Joe Biden president.
After Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, took himself out of the running last week, when it became clear that he wouldn’t get enough votes for the top job, nine men have lined up to see if they can pull the sword from the stone.
The fact that so many of them backed Donald Trump’s theory of a faulty 2020 election — even after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol — isn’t entirely surprising, since it was a common position among GOP leadership.
The ousted speaker, Kevin McCarthy of California, voted against certifying Biden’s win, as did his second in command, Steve Scalise of Louisiana — who also recently lost his bid for speaker. Jordan, one of the former president’s staunchest allies in Congress, voted to overturn the election as well.
Speaker candidates Jack Bergman, of Michigan; Byron Donalds, of Florida; Kevin Hern, of Oklahoma; Mike Johnson, of Louisiana; Gary Palmer, of Alabama; and Pete Sessions, of Texas, all objected to certifying the 2020 election results in Arizona and Pennsylvania. Rep. Dan Meuser, of Pennsylvania, voted only to object to his home state’s results.
Reps. Tom Emmer, of Minnesota, and Austin Scott, of Georgia, are the two who didn’t object.
Emmer, the GOP majority whip and a two-time chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, has the backing of McCarthy and probably has the upper hand. But it’s still not clear if he’ll be able to get the 217 votes needed to win because many of Trump’s allies oppose him — in part because he was one of the few senior House leaders willing to certify the election for Biden.
Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., one of the far-right members who voted to oust McCarthy, recently told MSNBC that it’s important to him that the next speaker be willing to “unequivocally and publicly state that the 2020 presidential election was not stolen.”
At 6:30 p.m. ET, there will be a candidate forum for House Republicans to hear from all the wannabe speakers. On Tuesday morning, the caucus will meet behind closed doors to vote on which candidate they’re ready to get behind.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
