It’s Friday morning, do you know who the next speaker of the House will be? Neither do House Republicans.
Right now House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) are in the race, and Republican Study Committee Chair Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) hasn’t formally declared but is certainly flirting with a bid.
Overnight, former President Donald Trump gave a serious boost to one candidate: He endorsed Jordan. That may not be enough to get the onetime Freedom Caucus founder to 218 votes in the House. But it is likely to quiet the rampant speculation of what a Trump speakership would look and function like.
Timeline: House Republicans are expected to host a candidate forum on Tuesday and hold a closed door, secret ballot internal election on Wednesday.
But when does the speakership fight will hit the House floor? TBD. At this point, it seems unlikely this will be neatly wrapped up anytime soon.
Candidates are still meeting with different groups within the House GOP to make their pitches, from the freshmen class to the House Freedom Caucus.
MTV vengeance: Many Republicans are calling for changes to the one-member motion to vacate that conservatives negotiated into the House Rules in January as part of speakership talks. Unless the House limits the ability of one member to force a vote on booting the speaker, these GOP lawmakers say, it simply can’t function.
