Rutherford Releases Statement on Status of Speaker Race

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This evening, Congressman John Rutherford (FL-05) released the following statement:

“Two weeks ago, eight Republicans joined House Democrats to vacate the Speaker of the House. I am very disappointed by the way this process to replace Speaker McCarthy has gone, and that disappointment only grew this week when Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) ran as the speaker designee after coming up second in a fair and free election against Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA). I witnessed Rep. Jordan withhold his support for Rep. Scalise, despite the fact that Rep. Scalise received the backing from the majority of the Republican Conference, ultimately pushing Rep. Scalise out of the running. This is not befitting the character of a leader, and in my eyes this disqualified him from receiving my support.

“We follow majority rule or we don't. I've spent my whole life enforcing the law, enforcing rules, and holding law breakers and rule breakers accountable. I take the same mindset to Congress, but some of my colleagues were willing to break from the majority to support their guy. I will not. Elections are won by majority. Every member elected to this body got into office by majority rule.

“After three rounds of votes on the House floor, it became more and more clear that Rep. Jordan did not and would not ever receive the 217 votes he would need. The House Conference then came together, once again, to decide if Rep. Jordan was our speaker designee, and after seeing his failed leadership and strongarm tactics used to force support over the last week, the majority in our Republican Conference voted not to extend his designation as our speaker designee. I will remain in Washington over the weekend to ensure House Republicans can come together next week to find a consensus candidate who can win.

“It is my hope that we will select a speaker designee quickly so that we can get back to doing the work we were elected to do - and that we were in the process of completing when this coup began. We have a growing war in the Middle East, a border crisis at home, and our government funding expires in less than a month. It's well past time to get down to business and select a consensus speaker designee who can bring the Republican Conference together and focus on the truly serious matters before us."

###