Republicans are set to hold a forum on Tuesday for candidates to make their final pitch in the race for speaker in the GOP-controlled House.
Details about the event, which reportedly will begin at 5 p.m. EST, were shared by House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) in a post to X.
“This evening, the House Republican Conference will host a candidate forum for GOP Members to hear from Speaker of the House declared candidates,” Stefanik said.
This evening, the House Republican Conference will host a candidate forum for GOP Members to hear from Speaker of the House declared candidates. Each declared candidate for Speaker will have 5 minutes of opening remarks, followed by a Q&A session with Members, and concluding with…
— Rep. Elise Stefanik (@RepStefanik) October 10, 2023
“Each declared candidate for Speaker will have 5 minutes of opening remarks, followed by a Q&A session with Members, and concluding with a 2 minutes closing statement,” she added.
Stefanik concluded, “I look forward to hosting a productive session to ensure we focus on delivering for the American people.”
An internal party leadership election is expected to follow on Wednesday; a simple majority in the conference, which CNN says would be 111, is needed to win the party’s nomination.
Ultimately who becomes speaker will be decided in a full House floor vote. Again, a simple majority will be needed for victory. Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is serving as speaker pro tempore in the short term.
While Democrats are expected to rally behind Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), two GOP members have announced candidacies for the House speaker’s gavel on the Republican side after the chamber voted last week to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) as speaker.
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The declared GOP candidates are House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who is the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. Both have already begun to share their respective visions for the House and called for unity among Republicans. Some members have announced their support for Scalise or for Jordan, while many others in the conference have yet to say who they will support.
Former President Donald Trump, who has endorsed Jordan for speaker, was reportedly considering an appearance at the forum on Tuesday though is now said to be “unlikely” to attend. A few members have even floated Trump to become interim speaker, as the Constitution does not rule out non-House members from holding the title, but Trump has signaled he is focused on his 2024 campaign seeking another term in the White House.
Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), another Republican considered to be a possible candidate for speaker, declined to enter the contest. “I believe a three-man race for Speaker will create even more division and make it harder to elect a Speaker,” he said in a statement.
There is also some hope within the conference that McCarthy, who had said he will not run for speaker again, will make a comeback. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), for instance, is urging McCarthy to reconsider. So far, McCarthy hasn’t quite ruled out a return, saying, “That’s a decision by the conference.”
As members hash out who they will elect as their next speaker, some have also raised the prospect of reforming or getting rid of the “motion to vacate” rule that was used by a single member — Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) — to trigger the no-confidence vote against McCarthy. Though a majority of GOP members voted to keep McCarty as speaker, eight Republicans joined Democrats to secure his ouster, citing objections to McCarthy’s leadership.
The Republican Main Street Caucus said the one-person threshold for a no-confidence vote keeps a “chokehold” over the House. The group also called for speaker candidates to “explain” how what happened to McCarthy will “never happen again.”