Republicans remain divided in race for House speaker

House Republicans voted on Friday to remove Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as their nominee for speaker following three votes on the House floor in which he was unable to garner enough votes to secure the post.

Now, at least nine Republicans have thrown their hats in the ring.

Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern, R-Okla., was one of the first GOP lawmakers to put his hat in the ring on Friday afternoon.

Retired Marine Corps Gen. Jack Bergman, R-Mich., also officially entered the race. He told Fox News Digital that he did so after fielding calls from “across the spectrum” of the GOP asking him to run.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who was named by GOP lawmakers on the House floor during Jordan’s bid, is also running for speaker, his office told Fox News Digital.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., is also in the running, as well as Reps. Mike Johnson, R-La., Austin Scott, R-Ga., Pete Sessions, R-Texas, and Gary Palmer, R-Ala.

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., had also joined the race but dropped out Monday evening.

The House of Representatives has been without a speaker since Oct. 3, when Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted by all Democrats and eight Republicans — a first in United States history.

Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., has been serving as speaker pro tempore, also known as the interim speaker of the House.

The House of Representatives is facing uncharted waters in the absence of a speaker, and little precedent in terms of the powers the interim speaker holds.

The scope of McHenry’s powers as interim speaker are limited. A speaker pro tempore can only hold a vote on the floor of the House of Representatives if it is a vote for the next speaker of the House.

A source familiar also told Fox News Digital that as interim speaker, McHenry has administrative oversight and power, such as power on office space. That was evidenced on his first day on the job.

McHenry issued an order to evict former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., from her private Capitol office — his first move as speaker pro tempore.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report

The last time the House speaker was vacant was a century ago in 1923. At the time, Republicans in the 68th Congressional lineup lost 77 House seats and their lead over their Democrat counterparts plunged from 171 to 18. The vacancy lasted three days.

The Republican Party was divided between various factions, including progressive and conservative wings, and they struggled to agree on a candidate for the speakership.

Ultimately, the deadlock was broken when Frederick H. Gillett, a Republican from Massachusetts, was re-elected as Speaker of the House on Sept. 18, 1923 in the ninth round of voting. Progressive Republicans — a faction of the party at the time that advocated for more government to improve society — opposed Gillett in the first eight rounds.

Gillett served as Speaker for the remainder of the 68th Congress and continued in the role through the 69th Congress.

Prior to that, in the mid-1850s, lawmakers set an enduring record for the longest speaker vote, stretching over nearly two months and involving 133 ballots before ultimately selecting Massachusetts Rep. Nathaniel Banks, a Republican and Union general during the Civil War, who hailed from Massachusetts as well.

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

Republicans’ race to nominate and elect a new speaker of the House has created a power vacuum that may benefit Democrats as the vacancy spills into its 20th day.

There are now nine candidates officially in the running to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., but as the GOP caucus mulls its decision, there remain questions about how long the debate will rage – and if that means the party could lose voters in 2024.

Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio failed to garner enough votes during his third round of floor-wide votes on Friday, sending party members back to the drawing board in an effort to end a stalemate. Twenty-five Republicans voted against him, leaving him short of the 217 votes needed to secure a win. The slim GOP majority and unified Democrat opposition gives any speaker candidate little wiggle room for naysayers within his or her own party.

Patrick McHenry, who is currently serving as interim speaker, said last week that Republicans will hold another forum Monday on the speakership runs, followed by a likely floor vote Tuesday. The race continues to be cloaked in uncertainty as candidates jockey as the strongest politician to pass muster and garner enough support to secure the speakership.

“Republican chaos” on the Hill could dash the GOP’s hopes of holding onto the House in the next election cycle, but the party could save itself with the election of a new speaker, according to longtime Democrat strategist Hank Sheinkopf.

“If a speaker can be elected, default avoided and defense budgets restored in the face of international crises, the chances of Democratic takeover will be reduced,” Sheinkopf told Fox News Digital.

Fox News’ Emma Colton contributed to this report.

Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told reporters Monday evening he believed the House
would have a new speaker by Tuesday night.

Speaking outside the closed-door Republican meeting, Bacon wouldn’t say which speaker candidate he was backing, but that each of the candidates was making “great cases” for their respective speakerships.

He added that the GOP conference needed to make sure that whatever candidate it supports needed to have the 217 votes necessary to become speaker before going to the full House for a vote.

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., became the first of the candidates to drop his speaker bid earlier Monday evening, leaving eight still in the running.

Fox News’ Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

FIRST ON FOX: Members of the House Freedom Caucus are demanding that Congress stay in session until a new speaker is elected, as the House of Representatives enters its fourth week since the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

House Republicans on Friday, after three rounds of failed votes on the floor, voted to remove Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as its nominee for speaker of the House. Jordan is a member of the House Freedom Caucus.

House Republicans are set to meet Monday night to discuss a path forward and hear from the speaker candidates. The next earliest floor vote on that prospective nominee likely would not be until Tuesday.

But members of the House Freedom Caucus are urging House leadership to keep Republicans in Washington until the next speaker is selected, saying “no speaker, no recess.”

“The House Republican Conference must remain in Washington D.C. until a new speaker of the House is elected,” the House Freedom Caucus said in a statement Monday. “Republican leadership should have kept Republicans in Washington over the weekend. Our work is not done.”

Members of the House Freedom Caucus said Republicans are “starting at ground zero after Jim Jordan, arguably one of the most popular Republicans in the country, was rejected by House Republicans.” 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Houston Keene contributed to this report.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced Monday it would begin displaying a public projection on the side of the National Gallery of Art near the U.S. Capitol in an effort to highlight Republicans’ “20th straight day of paralyzing the People’s House.” 

“Welcome to the GOP clown show,” the projection says as it cycles through photos of a clown, along with Reps. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who dropped his bid to become speaker last week.

The group’s criticism comes as House Republicans continue to battle over who will replace McCarthy as speaker following his ouster nearly three weeks ago.

“Americans want strong and steady leadership, not this never-ending MAGA circus,” DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika said in a statement.

“Instead of honking at each other and jumping through hoops to find the most extreme speaker, House Republicans need to get their act together and join President Biden and Democrats who remain focused on delivering for hardworking families at home and standing up for our allies abroad. Enough with the GOP clown show,” she added..

The projection will be on display on the side of the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, facing Pennsylvania Avenue NW starting tonight at 8 p.m. ET Monday evening.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., clapped back at Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s, D-N.Y., comments she made Sunday with MSNBC’s Mehdi Hasan.

“Before I got to Congress, I spent 20 years in the financial industry, something that leadership here on Capitol Hill definitely needs,” Donalds said on Fox’s “The Story” with Martha MacCallum on Monday.

“Number two, I spent four years in the legislature in Florida. I chair two committees there, and number three, since being here on Capitol Hill, I’ve worked intimately with members of our leadership team and members all through the conference, both appropriators and authorizers to get some of our biggest pieces of legislation accomplished this Congress,” he said.

He added, “So, with all due respect to miss Ocasio-Cortez, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. And if the Democrats are this concerned, I would tell my colleagues see what happens if I become your speaker.”

Ocasio-Cortez jabbed the Republican rep on Sunday, arguing that “he’s only served one term” in the House and submitted “false evidence” during a Biden impeachment hearing. 

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming blamed the ties between ex-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and former President Trump for the House’s disarray as the chamber struggles to elect a new speaker.

“I think what you’re seeing right now and among the Republicans in the House is a direct result of the decisions that Kevin McCarthy made to embrace Donald Trump, to embrace the most radical and extreme members of our party, to elevate them,” Cheney said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.

“So it’s not a surprise that we are where we are, but it’s a disgrace, and it’s an embarrassment,” she said.

“And there certainly are serious people among the Republicans,” Cheney continued. “I think it’s important to be not be an election denier.”

Cheney, a representative from 2017 to 2023 and a vocal critic of Trump, was removed from her leadership role in the House Republican Conference led by McCarthy in 2021. 

Fox News’ Jamie Joseph contributed to this report.

Donald Trump is running for president again in 2024.

But there was a brief period earlier this month when the former president was also running for speaker.

Only one person has ever served as both House speaker and president. But certainly not at the same time. James Polk was elected House speaker by his colleagues from 1835 to 1839 while he was a congressman from Tennessee. Later, from 1845 to 1849, Polk served as president.

It was always doubtful Trump would ever become speaker of the House. It was a mathematical impossibility for the former president to win the speakership on the House floor. But amid an astonishing leadership vacuum atop the legislative branch of the United States, it should come as no surprise that some Republicans – and even former President Trump himself – were shopping him as a potential successor to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Rep. Greg Stuebe, R-Fla., advocated for a Trump speakership early on.

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, quickly announced that he would “nominate Donald J. Trump for speaker of the House” just after the House stripped McCarthy of his gavel earlier this month. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., also pushed Trump for the job.

“I support President Trump because he has a four-year proven record as president,” said Greene, noting she would nominate Trump in the House Republican Conference. “We’re talking about an interim speakership. And I think President Trump is exactly the right outsider for this.” 

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.

EXCLUSIVE: One of the nine House Republicans running for speaker is out with a list of five commitments he is calling on his fellow contenders for the gavel to commit to.

Republican Policy Committee Chair Gary Palmer, R-Ala., released the policy outline less than an hour before House GOP lawmakers are retreating behind closed doors to hear from the speaker candidates.

That includes a commitment to fund the government with 12 individual spending bills by June 30; forcing “real spending cuts” and not “budget gimmicks;” refusing to pass any more short-term stopgap funding bills; giving members 72 hours to read a bill before it hits the House floor; and, perhaps most critically – making sure the GOP conference is on the same page before holding a House-wide vote.

“Congress has been kicking the can down the road since before I was elected. We don’t need a person or a personality, we need a plan,” Palmer said.

“The American people deserve a Republican Conference that is unified, transparent, and committed to the job. Before we vote tomorrow, every candidate should commit to these principles.”

The House speaker’s role is to serve as the leader of the House and to preside over its order of business.

The speaker controls the chamber’s legislative agenda and is responsible for scheduling bills for debate and referring bills to committee.

The speaker will also assign committee roles to members, although they themselves will not sit on any committees. 

Additionally, they step in behind the vice president in the presidential line of succession, meaning they are second in line to the presidency if the vice president is unable to serve.

Traditionally, the speaker is chosen from among the elected House members, but the Constitution does not explicitly say the speaker has to be a lawmaker. However, the potential speaker does have to be nominated by a member of the House to be considered for the gavel.

The House is facing uncharted waters in the absence of a speaker after Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the role earlier this month. Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., has been serving as speaker pro tempore, but his powers are limited.

Fox News’ Houston Keene and Adam Shaw contributed to this report.

Rep. Byron Donalds
, R-Fla., scored a big endorsement for his campaign to be House Speaker on Monday evening when House Freedom Caucus Policy Chair Chip Roy, R-Texas, endorsed him.

“Over the past 10 months, Byron and I worked with Speaker McCarthy to take significant steps to reopen the legislative process, pass the strongest border security bill this body has ever produced, work to cut spending through the Limit, Save, Grow Act, move individual appropriations bills, pass a conservative defense reauthorization bill, and more,” Roy said in a new statement.

“Byron is a strong communicator backed by a conservative voting record who has simultaneously played a central role in bringing together members from across the Republican conference to advance conservative priorities. To that end, I plan to hold Speaker Donalds just as accountable to those priorities as I did Speaker McCarthy, just as Byron would expect me to do.”

Those priorities, according to Roy, are to cut spending, pass House Republicans’ border security bill, and end the “woke cancer” at the Pentagon, among others.

It comes an hour and a half before nine Republicans, including Donalds, will make their case to the GOP conference at a closed-door candidate forum.

For House Republicans
to unite and move forward, reason must prevail over faction. Some refer to factions within the political parties as “tribalism.” The goal is really to diminish the merits of alternative policy perspectives. The reality is that both Republicans and Democrats form diverse coalitions in an attempt to contain America’s diverse political views within two political parties. By definition, each party is effectively its own form of coalition government.

Now, Republicans confront the reality of having far more government than we can afford as we debate the role of Speaker of the House. Speaker Kevin McCarthy wrestled for years to build the coalitions necessary to govern the narrow majority. Nevertheless, there were fatal flaws in his coalition, and it collapsed once a small group became convinced that the commitment to break the status quo on appropriations was either insincere or no longer on a path to being achieved. While their motion to vacate was foolish in my opinion, saying their action was purely personal or without merit willfully avoids the principled objection to failure.

As I and many others cautioned, the motion to vacate without a plan for what would happen next has in fact been disastrous. Frankly, the idea that their risky action to vacate the chair could somehow result in a more conservative coalition that would address the broken appropriations process, prevented Jim Jordan from restoring unity with a similar coalition to Speaker McCarthy’s. This, of course, exposed other factions who had other objectives with this crisis.

Now, my friend and colleague, Rep. Mike Flood from Nebraska, has a new proposal to restore unity to the Republican Party’s narrow majority in Congress. He is a good man, whose intentions in my estimation are pure. However, as I began, reason must prevail over faction. Unfortunately, Flood’s proposal formalizes the alternative outcome. 

Republicans are meeting Monday evening to hear from the nine GOP lawmakers pitching themselves for the top job in the House of Representatives.

The candidate who gets a majority of the conference vote in a secret ballot Tuesday morning will become House Republicans’ next speaker designate but still has to win at least 217 votes to clinch the gavel.

The No. 3 House Republican, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., is the highest-ranking GOP lawmaker running for speaker. Emmer touted those credentials in a Saturday letter to colleagues, emphasizing Republicans’ legislative wins and reminding them that he helped the GOP win its razor-thin majority as chair of House Republicans’ campaign arm.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., rolled out a broad but straightforward mandate for his would-be speakership. In a statement Friday, he said, “My sole focus will be securing our border, funding our government responsibly, advancing a conservative vision for the House of Representatives and the American people, and expanding our Republican majority.”

Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern handed out a memo to GOP lawmakers on Monday emphasizing the work he’s done to prepare for his bid for speaker, including contacting every member of the conference over the weekend “to hear about their priorities.”

Vice GOP Conference Chair Mike Johnson, R-La., and Republican Policy Committee Chairman Gary Palmer, R-Ala., are, like Emmer, members of leadership who are throwing their hats in the ring for speaker.

Four House Republicans who have mostly kept out of the spotlight in this Congress are also jumping into the race — Reps. Jack Bergman, R-Mich.; Austin Scott, R-Ga.; Pete Sessions, R-Texas; and Dan Meuser, R-Pa.