The Great Ongoing Revolving Speakership of the 118th Congress {Mike Johnson is new speaker as of 2023-10-25}

I’ve always been an optimist.

The GOP will take another vote at 8pm local time.

Hern will drop his bid and supports Johnson.

That, and change the threshold for a motion to vacate to 10% of the House membership.

Sorry I missed that post. Maybe now the standard unit of short tenure will be the Emmer.

Can’t we find 10-12 Republicans who intend to retire at the end of this term and go on to some big-time law firm, cushy university job or just go fishing in the Gulf of Mexico - jobs that put them more or less out of reach of the MAGA crowd. They could resign en masse right now and leave the House with a slight Democratic majority for the next 14 months.

I like the cut of your jib, Mister.

I could see K_C’s plan paying off handsomely for a lot of people.

First evening ballot

Johnson - 85

Donalds - 32

Green - 23

Williams - 21

Fleischmann - 10

Other - 31

Present - 2

Who are these people?

I mean, I’m not really up to speed on the House of Representatives membership, but I know some of the names that are in the news. These ones could be imported from the Boise City Council for all I know.

“Other” getting 31 votes is not a great sign.

The Greatest (Shit)Show on Earth!

Just wait - “Other” is going to creep up the votes to get a majority!

Why not?

Don’t progressives (or, in my case, liberals who aren’t quite progressives) want them to keep on failing until there has to be some deal with Jeffries? And we certainly aren’t there yet.

I’m worried that Johnson will win it.

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Tennessee was eliminated in the first round of speaker votes, House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik announced.

House Republicans are moving to second ballot with the following GOP representatives:

  • Byron Donalds of Florida, a second-term member of the far-right Freedom Caucus
  • Mark Green of Tennessee, chair of the House Homeland Security Committee
  • Mike Johnson of Louisiana, the vice chair for the House Republican Conference
  • Roger Williams of Texas, chair of the House Small Business Committee

I meant not a great sign for electing a Speaker tonight.

We’ll never get there, because in multi-party politics, the largest voting bloc has the advantage. That is the Democrats. Non-Democratic representatives who are fed up with the situation should be offering their votes to Jeffries.

Green dropped out and endorsed Johnson.

Apparently “others” was McCarthy (33) and Jordan (1)

The only compromise candidate Democrats should be willing to accept is a neutral outsider with no political agenda of their own who is generally regarded as level-headed by both parties and pledges to run the House as a neutral referee.

Where you’d find that person, I’m not sure. Prince Harry, maybe?

Trevor Noah

In case nobody else noticed, there won’t be a Speakership vote on the House floor tonight; the House adjourned until noon tomorrow