Rep. Steve Scalise is dropping out of the speaker’s race after House Republicans failed to coalesce behind him in the aftermath of Kevin McCarthy’s historic ouster.
House Republicans met behind closed-doors for more than two hours Thursday afternoon, where the Majority leader urged his detractors to explain their opposition to him in front of the conference. After the meeting ended, Scalise huddled with those opposed to him in his office. And Republicans scheduled a second members-only conference meeting for Thursday evening.
But the opposition to Scalise as the next speaker only grew Thursday, with roughly 20 Republicans publicly opposing him. Scalise needs a majority of the House to be elected speaker, meaning he can only afford to lose four votes.
They shouldn’t use Jefferies. They should put up a Democrat like Angie Craig (D, MN), Don Davis (D, NC) or Bishop Sanford (D, GA) a significantly more “blue dog style” Democrat that a R who votes for can go back to their state and justify woth something like, “There are Republicans who are just there to muck things up. I had a choice between a moderate Democrat who could free us up to assist Israel and Ukraine now or a Republican who would take months to confirm if ever!” You can defend that politically, especially in a farm state like Nebraska or Kansas where that type of pragmatism is still culturally values.
Not a bad idea. It also shows a willingness to compromise and work across the aisle from Democrats, which is a striking difference from the Republican mess. I don’t expect Republicans to take it, but it’s important to show people that Democrats want to act in good faith here.