Jacob Francy, '26
Ever since October 3, the U.S. House has been scrambling around doing anything but the peoples’ work.
Kevin McCarthy was vacated from his previous position as Speaker of the House, which is second in line to the Presidency, right behind the Vice President. Following the Constitution’s rules, the person who was picked by McCarthy to take his place was North Carolina Congressman Patrick McHenry, who has served his state’s 10th congressional district for 18 years. McHenry has served as Speaker Pro Tempore (“interim Speaker”) since the 3rd, when McCarthy was ousted.
Ever since McCarthy was ejected from his seat behind the President, the Republicans have been arguing back and forth to decide who the next Speaker of the House would be. Immediately after his expulsion, McCarthy told the media he wouldn’t run again for the position, telling the press it would create too much chaos. Two members of the GOP jumped at the opportunity to become the 56th Speaker of the House: Steve Scalise (R-LA), the Republican Majority Leader, and Jim Jordan (R-OH), a well-known election denier and Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Scalise was the default choice by many as he was next in line for the job, but then Jordan was given a real weapon. Former President Donald Trump, who is leading heavily in the Republican Presidential Primaries, formally endorsed Jim Jordan for the Speaker position.
The House GOP held a meeting behind closed doors and voted to decide who would be their nominee, the idea being that whomever won the secret meeting ballot would be every Republican’s choice for Speaker. With a slim majority of 113-99, Scalise won the nomination. That night, almost twenty House Republicans made a statement saying they, “would not support” Scalise for Speaker of the House in the official vote. The Trump team has been rumored to be behind the sudden protest. The next day, after much more debate, Scalise announced to the media that he had dropped out of the race for Speaker. Within hours of his announcement, Jim Jordan announced he was re-running for Speaker.
On October 17, the House made an official vote for Speaker. Needing 217 votes to win the gavel, Jim Jordan received 200 votes. Twenty Republican Congressmen voted against Jordan in the first round, telling the media he was too extreme for the job. The next day, after more negotiating, the Republicans began another Speaker election. This time, two more Republicans voted against Jordan. Now what?
On October 19th, House GOP reportedly held another conference in which they decided the best course of action might be to extend Speaker Pro Tempore McHenry’s duties for 90 days in order to pass other legislation before deciding on a new Speaker, which could take a significant amount of time. Later in the day, multiple Congressmen that were inside the Republican conference told reporters there were even holdouts on the idea to give the interim Speaker an extension.
On the 20th, Jordan tried once again for the Speakership and lost even more votes, totaling 194 votes (210 votes for Jeffries, 25 for other).
The next five days were continuing the chaos. Rep. Tom Emmer was chosen as the next candidate, but 4 hours after he was chosen, he dropped out due to the amount of Republicans who didn't approve of him. Rep. Mike Johnson, Emmer's runner-up, was then chosen as their nominee. Johnson is unlikely to get enough votes to become Speaker due to the amount of moderate Republicans who dislike him for his promoting of 2020 Election lies.
UPDATE ON PUBLISH DAY: Johnson was unanimously voted and elected as the 56th Speaker of the House in U.S. History. A Congressman from Louisiana, he is known as one of the few outspoken MAGA extremists of the Republican party. This all comes after Steve Scalise, Jim Jordan, and Tom Emmer were all dropped after being nominated themselves.
House Republicans fought each other for over 3 weeks, and it made the entire country look extremely weak. I don’t say this often, but God bless America. Now, let's get back to actually running the country.