Following the historic removal of Kevin McCarthy as U.S. House speaker, Congressman Michael Guest has revealed what replacement candidates he has in mind.
Guest, R-Miss., said on Thursday’s episode of The Gallo Show that he is no longer worried about how McCarthy was removed – even though he was in favor of the California representative maintaining speakership – and instead, believes the Republican party needs to come together to make sure they maintain control of the leadership position.
Going into Tuesday’s conference meetings for interested candidates to step up, Guest pledged his support to both Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio. Both representatives have already announced their intentions of running.
“It’s going to be either Steve Scalise or Jim Jordan,” Guest said. “I think those are the two candidates who have risen up, and I think both of them would do an incredible job.”
Guest’s only concern is that the process of electing a new speaker could be drawn out as it took a record 15 votes for McCarthy to finally be voted in earlier this year.
The high number of hardline voters is what ultimately led to McCarthy’s downfall, too, as Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., claimed McCarthy “breached the agreement” he made with members of the Freedom Caucus and others following the passage of a stopgap bill that averted a government shutdown.
“It took four days and 15 different rounds for McCarthy to be able to secure the necessary votes, so we will see whether or not any of the candidates can secure those votes on the first round,” Guest said.
Another candidate that has not been ruled out for House speaker is former President Donald Trump. Although Trump is mulling a visit to Capitol Hill next week, his felony indictments could limit the feasibility of attaining speakership.
For the time being, Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina will move forward on an interim basis.
J.T. Mitchell contributed to this report.
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