Majorie Taylor Greene & Lauren Boebert promise to ruin House Speaker vote

The Republican vote for the next House Speaker — which was expected to happen today — is already in disarray thanks to rabidly anti-LGBTQ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), her bigoted bestie Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and their cohorts. Last January, it took the House GOP 15 votes to elect a speaker — Greene, Boebert, and others seem set on doing that again.

In a behind-closed-doors Wednesday morning vote, 113 GOP House members voted for Rep. Steve Scalise (LA) to take the role, and 99 voted for Rep. Jim Jordan (OH). The next speaker will need 217 votes to assume the position, and there are only 221 Republican House members. So, even though Scalise is expected to become the next Speaker, if five GOP House members vote for Jordan, it could cause no one to win, leaving the seat unfilled and the House GOP without a leader.

Related:

The next House speaker might be an anti-LGBTQ+ reactionary who covered up sex abuse

A far-right election denialist and leader of the Biden impeachment effort, JIm Jordan shows just how far the GOP has sunk.

In a Wednesday tweet, Greene said that she wouldn’t be voting for Scalise because “I want to see him defeat cancer more than sacrifice his health in the most difficult position in Congress. I lost my father to cancer and it’s a very serious battle.”

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Doctors diagnosed 58-year-old Scalise with blood cancer earlier this year.

“I just voted for Jim Jordan for Speaker on a private ballot in conference, and I will be voting for Jim Jordan on the House floor,” Green wrote. “We need a Speaker who is able to put their full efforts into defeating the communist democrats and save America…. We must protect our kids. And we need a full leadership team dedicated to this fight in these unprecedented times.”

I just voted for Jim Jordan for Speaker on a private ballot in conference, and I will be voting for Jim Jordan on the House floor.

I like Steve Scalise, and I like him so much that I want to see him defeat cancer more than sacrifice his health in the most difficult position in…

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 11, 2023

Her “protect our kids” comment was likely a reference to her gender-affirming care ban. On Monday, she said that she wanted the next House Speaker to support her bill banning such care for transgender youth and restricting such care for trans adults.

Her “protect our kids” line seems especially odd since Jordan was accused of blatantly ignoring the sexual abuse of male wrestlers he coached at Ohio State University. In March 2020, six former OSU wrestlers said that Jordan knew about the abuse, which allegedly occurred at the hands of OSU’s athletic doctor Richard Strauss. Jordan served as OSU’s wrestling coach from 1987 and 1995 — he has denied knowing anything about the abuse despite the six wrestlers saying otherwise.

In her own tweet, Boebert wrote, “I will be voting for Jim Jordan to be Speaker of the House on the floor when the vote is called.”

I will be voting for Jim Jordan to be Speaker of the House on the floor when the vote is called.

In conference, Jordan received 99 votes and Scalise received 113.

We had a chance to unify the party behind closed doors, but the Swamp and K Street lobbyists prevented that.

The…

— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) October 11, 2023

Rep. Michael Cloud (R-LA) also wrote on Twitter that he wouldn’t vote for Scalise, stating, “While I respect Steve Scalise, the underhanded efforts to rush this vote to the floor without getting full buy-in from the conference is extremely ill-advised and I will not be supporting the nomination on the floor, absent a further discussion.”

Reps. Bob Good (R-VA), Max Miller (R-OH), Carlos Gimenez (R-FL), Chip Roy (R-TX), Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), and Thomas Massie (R-KY) have all said they plan on voting for someone other than Scalise, according to The Hill.

Going to the floor on a nomination with barely half the conference’s support is a bad, bad idea — especially without a specific plan on how to address the spending deadline. While I respect Steve Scalise, the underhanded efforts to rush this vote to the floor without getting full…

— Congressman Michael Cloud (@RepCloudTX) October 11, 2023

With Jordan having 99 supportive votes behind closed doors, and votes already peeling off from the 217 needed to become Speaker, it’s entirely possible that no one will become House Speaker in the immediate future. It’s also possible that there will be a repeat of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s chaotic election in January, in which he had to give major concessions to far-right House members like Greene and Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), including one making it easier to remove him as Speaker — something which ultimately led to his ouster.

The new House Speaker may have to make similar concessions to get 217 votes, making the position less stable and more compliant to anti-LGBTQ representatives’ whims.