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Sunday, October 22, 2023

GOP Push "Unity Pledge" : A Plot to Ensure the Next Speaker-Designate can Rally 217 Votes On-the-Floor | POLITICO

House Republicans push unity ‘pledge’ to guarantee a speaker

The GOP is wary of another fiasco on the House floor.

BY KATHERINE TULLY-MCMANUS, OLIVIA BEAVERS AND JENNIFER SCHOLTES

Mike Flood walks into ceremony with others following behind.

A majority of the House Republicans vying for the speakership signed a pledge Saturday aimed at saving the GOP’s next pick from the vote-counting trap that sank Reps. Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan’s bids.
Seven lawmakers have launched campaigns for the gavel ahead of a Sunday deadline, as House Republicans scramble — yet again — to select their new speaker, nearly three weeks after Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the top post. And five of the announced candidates have committed in writing to a plot to ensure the next speaker-designate can rally 217 votes on the floor.

The device: A simple two-paragraph pledge, spearheaded by Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.), to vote “yea” on the floor for whoever wins the House Republican conference’s backing in the initial secret-ballot election scheduled for Tuesday. To pick up more commitments, Flood is organizing a bloc of Republicans to withhold support from candidates unless they press their backers to sign the pledge.

Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) has spearheaded a two-paragraph pledge to vote “yea” on the floor for whoever wins the House Republican conference’s backing in the initial secret-ballot election scheduled for Tuesday. | Francis Chung/POLITIcO

Seven lawmakers have launched campaigns for the gavel ahead of a Sunday deadline, as House Republicans scramble — yet again — to select their new speaker, nearly three weeks after Rep. Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the top post. And five of the announced candidates have committed in writing to a plot to ensure the next speaker-designate can rally 217 votes on the floor.

The device: A simple two-paragraph pledge, spearheaded by Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.), to vote “yea” on the floor for whoever wins the House Republican conference’s backing in the initial secret-ballot election scheduled for Tuesday. To pick up more commitments, Flood is organizing a bloc of Republicans to withhold support from candidates unless they press their backers to sign the pledge.

Support for the strategy built rapidly Saturday, with signatures from speakership candidates Reps. Austin Scott (Ga.), Mike Johnson (La.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jack Bergman (Mich.) and Kevin Hern (Okla.), chair of the Republican Study Committee.

Reps. Byron Donalds (Fla.) and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) are the only announced candidates who have not yet indicated support for the pledge. And allies of the conservative House Freedom Caucus are urging opposition. . .