John Boehner will likely remain Speaker of the House when Congress returns- but it won’t be an easy vote. Many fellow Republicans either won’t vote for Boehner or want his job.
While Republicans united to dominate the midterm elections, there is still dissension within the GOP. Many Tea Party Republicans see Boehner as not being conservative enough to remain Speaker of the House. They are also displeased with Boehner’s willingness to compromise with President Obama on immigration reform.
David Brat, a Virginia Republican, said Boehner hasn’t remained true to conservative values. “While I like Speaker Boehner personally, he will not have my support for Speaker,” wrote Brat on the conservative website Breitbart.com.
“Washington is broken in part because our party’s leadership has strayed from its own principles of free market, limited government, constitutional conservatism,” continued Brat.
Another conservative Republican, Iowa congressman Steve King, also wrote on the political website that he won’t be voting for Boehner for speaker.
“We need a Speaker who will help us all keep our oath, including his own, to the Constitution, not one who has consistently blocked our efforts to keep ours. I will vote for an alternative candidate for Speaker,” wrote King.
Two conservative Republicans are running to replace Boehner as Speaker. Texas Congressman Louie Goemert and Florida representative Ted Yoho are running against Boehner. Though they are unlikely to win, they expose a divide within the Republican party.
“This is a symptom of a larger problem facing the Republicans,” said Paul Sracic, a political scientist at Ohio’s Youngstown State University. “The speaker’s going to have to walk a fine line if he wants to get things passed in the new Congress. It’s a reminder that conservatives want to fight Obama.”
Some Republicans see the dissent within the party as disruptive to the party’s agenda. “I just think it’s disrespectful to the conference and it’s politically immature,” said Oklahoma Republican Representative Tom Cole,a Boehner supporter.
Cole also believed the challengers to Boehner are just running against him to gain publicity.“Other than going down and creating a scene, what are you going to do?” said Cole. “And they don’t have an answer to that.”
