A GOP lawmaker says some members 'would prefer' to be in the minority because they could 'just vote no and yell and scream all the time'
- Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska, a swing district Republican, decried the continued GOP leadership fight.
- Bacon said some of his GOP colleagues "would prefer" to be in the minority in the US House.
After House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana last week saw his push for the speakership dissipate, he pulled the plug on his bid.
It was another round of disappointment for House Republicans, who just days earlier witnessed eight of their GOP colleagues join Democrats to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy from the speakership.
Rep. Jim Jordan is now in the hunt to win the requisite votes needed to secure the speakership in a full floor vote, but even that is not assured. That Jordan, a favorite of conservatives and a well-known national figure, is still working to unify varying factions of the House Republican Conference shows the deep divisions that remain.
While speaking with CNN last week, Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska said that the conservative hardliners who set off the leadership fight aren't concerned about holding the House, which the GOP controls by a slim 221-212 margin.
Bacon, who represents his state's Omaha-anchored 2nd congressional district, said that the leadership fight puts his hotly-contested seat at risk next year.
"These guys want to be in the minority. I think they would prefer that because they could vote 'no' and yell and scream all the time," he told the network. "But governing, you have to work together."
With Jordan now the latest GOP aspirant working to find the 217 votes to secure the speakership, he'll have to convince members with reservations about his record that the party needs to advance beyond the leadership struggle.
"We've got to get past this stage," Republican Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma told The Wall Street Journal. "There's not enough political oxygen in this place to think about other stuff."
While conservative hardliners ultimately sank McCarthy's speakership, Jordan faces resistance from an array of members — notably some moderates who are hesitant to back the Ohioan due to his bombastic and sharply partisan record in years past and as the current chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. And there are also conservatives who aren't fully sold on Jordan.
Reps. Vern Buchanan and Mario Díaz-Balart of Florida have both expressed their opposition to Jordan, as well as Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama and Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri.