Ex-GOP congressman warns Republicans aiming to be speaker are “dangerous”

Former Republican Representative David Jolly warned that the GOP members running for the House speakership position could be just as “dangerous” as Representative Jim Jordan while speaking to Newsweek on Sunday.

On October 3, Representative Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, became the first House speaker in U.S. history to be ousted from the role by a floor vote, after a motion to vacate was brought against him by GOP Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida. Since then, successive GOP candidates for speaker have failed to garner the necessary majority of votes, an issue worsened by the party’s razor-thin margin of control in the House.

Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana was the first candidate chosen, but he ultimately failed to get the votes needed on the chamber floor and withdrew from consideration. Jordan of Ohio, the candidate initially endorsed by Trump, was next up, but he also failed to garner the needed votes, losing more and more support in three consecutive rounds of voting.

Nine Republicans announced their candidacy to be the next House speaker including: Representatives Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Pete Sessions of Texas, Austin Scott of Georgia, Byron Donalds of Florida, Jack Bergman of Michigan, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, and Gary Palmer of Alabama.

Jolly, who served Florida’s 13th Congressional District from 2014 to 2017, told Newsweek via phone on Sunday that Jordan is “one of the more dangerous Republican leaders in his willingness to undermine democracy and as he sought to assist Trump in stealing the election in 2020, I’m sure he would try to do so in 2024.”

He continued: “So his elimination from the speakership race, I think is a net positive all around. That does not mean that there’s a wide gap between him and who comes next, to be honest. If you look at the field of current candidates for speaker, they probably lack the tactics of Jordan, but I think many of them would arrive at the same destination.”

Jolly explained that the candidates may not start off at such a dangerous spot as Jordan, but may end up there.

“I made that point for those who thought Jordan was so much worse than McCarthy. My point was McCarthy always ended up where Jordan started. It just took him longer to get there,” he said. “McCarthy blessed the impeachment of Joe Biden, he covered for Trump on the January 6th stuff, [and] he negotiated in bad faith with Biden and then broke his promise. So it’s not as though other leading Republicans are significantly and qualitatively less dangerous than Jordan, but Jordan just starts from a very dangerous spot.”

Although the Republicans hold a slight majority in the House of Representatives and have been struggling to find a nominee that can garner at least 217 votes necessary to win the House speaker vote, Jolly said he is “cautiously optimistic” and that he believes Republicans are close to resolving this issue.

He added that “all of the high-profile potential speakers have been vetted and lost,” so the Republicans will go with a candidate that “the country largely doesn’t know.”

Jolly, who left the Republican Party in 2018, questions if the “hardliner” Republicans will agree to anything.

“The next speaker will have to compromise with [Hakeem] Jeffries, [Chuck] Schumer, and Biden. The next speaker will lose the appropriations fight coming up in 30 days,” he said. “The House Republican Conference hardliners are not grounded in reality. They are not grounded in the reality of governing. And, if they’re going to hold their speaker to that alternate reality, I don’t know how anyone gets to 217, but I think that this week will be the closest anyone could come.”

House Democrats have not moved from their position at electing their nominee, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, in all three rounds of voting, but Jolly said there is “zero” chance of swaying enough House Republicans to vote him in.

However, Jolly does see a scenario where there could be a consensus with Democratic support of a Republican nominee, but not without concessions. Jolly suggested Patrick McHenry, a North Carolina Republican, who is currently presiding as Speaker pro tempore, but is not one of the candidates running.

“So we would have to be in a scenario where things fell apart,” the former congressman said. “And to a lesser extent Emmer or Austin Scott. Simply because they did both vote to certify the [2020] election.”

Jolly said that for Democrats to vote for a Republican speaker they would most likely ask House Republicans to agree to “three pieces of legislation that would come up under an open rule where every member could offer an amendment. Those three would be Israel, Ukraine, and the final appropriations package.”

However, Jolly said he does not believe Republicans would agree to those concessions.