By ,
Published December 30, 2016
In all likelihood, John Boehner will retain his mantle of Speaker of the House of the 114th Congress, despite the challenges being mounted to his leadership by GOP conservatives like Louie Gohmert of Texas and Ted Yoho of Florida.
The vote is expected to take place on Tuesday and it isn’t even clear whether enough Republicans will want to express their displeasure with Boehner to get the 29 votes needed to force a second ballot.
Many conservatives feel that Boehner is too willing to accommodate moderates and make deals with the White House.
“We lack a leadership, and we lack vision of where the country’s going," Yoho told Fox News on Monday. “It’s just not me feeling this.”
According to an article in The Hill, there are 15 members of the new House who are likely to oppose another Boehner term as speaker: Among them are Gohmert and Yoho, who are running against him, as well as Iowa’s Steve King and Dave Brat of Virginia, the political newcomer who unseated former Majority Leader Eric Cantor.
The piece identifies six representatives—most of them incoming members—who appear to be on the fence about going against Boehner.
If this all seems like déjà vu all over again, you’re right. In January 2013, a vocal band of primarily conservative House members signaled their opposition to Boehner by voting for Cantor or Colin Powell—who, since he wasn’t a member of the House, wasn’t eligible for the job—or by abstaining.
One of the people who abstained in 2013, and who received one vote for Speaker, is Idaho’s Raúl Labrador.
This time around, he has kept his intentions more to himself.
Labrador spokesman Dan Popkey, asked by Jon Alexander of the Twin Falls (Idaho) Times-News, wouldn’t clarify Labrador’s position about Boehner.
“Maybe there will be a story tomorrow, but we don’t have one for you today,” Popkey said.
In an editorial published Tuesday, Alexander suggested that Labrador’s personal ambitions might be better served by voting against Boehner, rather than playing nice with the GOP leadership, particularly if he hopes to unseat Republican Senator Mike Crapo in 2016.
“Labrador is a well-packaged rising star within the three dozen or so tea party House members,” Alexander wrote.
“Another vote against Boehner could threaten Labrador’s effectiveness in the House by further isolating him from his party,” the editorial acknowledges, adding, “but it also would raise his profile again among the tea party base.”
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