Updated 9:57 a.m. October 12, 2023
Colorado House Republicans did not unite around their caucus's nominee for speaker, Louisiana Rep. Steve Scalise during a closed door caucus meeting Wednesday afternoon.
Scalise won a secret ballot against Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan 113-99. The results, however, didn’t sway Western Slope Rep. Lauren Boebert, who said Scalise will not have her vote.
“I'm voting for Jim Jordan on the floor,” she said repeatedly as she was peppered with questions from reporters while leaving the meeting. Boebert was one of the last holdouts during the Speaker’s race in January.
In a social media post, the Western Slope representative elaborated on her reasons for supporting Jordan, “The American people deserve a real change in leadership, not a continuation of the status quo.”
With a slim majority in the House, the next Republican Speaker can only afford to lose four votes from his party. Currently, more than four said they will not vote for Scalise at this time.
Boebert met with Scalise Wednesday afternoon. She left saying there should be no immediate floor vote and that she’s looking for a fighter.
“I’m ready for somebody who’s going to throw down and not care who’s in the way,” she said. “I’m tired of the politics that are played in this chamber and I want somebody who’s actually going to put some teeth into what we do.”
But when asked if there is anything Scalise can do to change her mind, she replied, “We’ll have to see.”
With a slim majority in the House, the next Republican Speaker can only afford to lose four votes from his party. Currently, more than four said they will not vote for Scalise at this time.
Republican Rep. Ken Buck, who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy, told reporters he voted present during the closed door nomination process. “If we don’t have moral clarity to decide whether President Biden won or not, we don’t have the moral clarity to rule,” he told reporters.
During a candidate forum on Tuesday, Buck reportedly asked both Scalise and Jordan who won the 2020 election and was unsatisfied with their answers. Both men voted not to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
He later said on CNN that he still had policy questions for Scalise but would not vote against him if the vote were close, adding on social media Thursday morning that Scalise is “a great guy. Very Honest. Very hard working.”
Heading into the Tuesday meeting, Colorado Springs Rep. Doug Lamborn was hopeful that a new Speaker would be elected soon. “We just got out of an Israel classified briefing. We can't be rudderless right now in the House. And we are.”
While there is currently an acting House Speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry, his powers are limited. The House can’t move legislation on the floor until a new Speaker is selected.
Lamborn’s office said he won’t be making any statements about how he’ll vote ahead of the contest on the floor.
Once voting does finally start, Democrats are expected to rally around their nominee, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the current Minority Leader.
