Former House speaker Newt Gingrich floated Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) as the next speaker.
Gingrich appeared on Fox News Sunday to provide an analysis of the Republican Party’s plight in finding a new leader in the only chamber it currently holds a majority. By the time the House convenes again on Monday, it will have been 20 days without a speaker.
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“I, frankly, I wish — listen, I’ve talked about this — I wish they had a woman candidate out of all the candidates they’ve got running,” Gingrich said. “Somebody like Elise Stefanik or Beth Van Duyne, who had been a mayor of a city before becoming a congresswoman.”
House Republicans have already gone through two speaker nominees, Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), who withdrew after he recognized he couldn’t rally 214 votes due to his cancer diagnosis, and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who lost three elections. There is no current speaker nominee, and Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-SC) is left serving as the speaker pro tempore.
Reps. Kevin Hern (R-OK), Austin Scott (R-GA), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Mike Johnson (R-LA), Jack Bergman (R-MI), and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) are asking the conference to consider them to be the next speaker. McCarthy has endorsed Emmer.
As a result of the recent tumult, Gingrich worried that a vocal minority within the GOP could send the conference into the same mess within a few weeks. Gingrich himself served as speaker for four years.
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“I think in some ways, given the level of rowdiness and the level of juvenile behavior, it’s conceivable that a female speaker would be more effective in actually getting them all to get together and stick together,” Gingrich went on. “That’s the key; they have to learn to stick together.”
For now, the House of Representatives can’t perform any business, including addressing a looming government shutdown deadline of Nov. 17, until it elects a new speaker.
