"This is a time for unity," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Thursday.
WASHINGTON — A small posse of ambitious lawmakers are angling for a promotion into the House GOP leadership.
Majority Leader Eric Cantor's decision to relinquish his post following a Tuesday primary defeat has sparked a mid-session leadership battle, pitting lawmakers against each other in an attempt to redefine the direction of the leadership ahead of the 2014 elections.
Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is on track to seek the leader post with a public endorsement Wednesday by Cantor. McCarthy is unlikely to face much resistance after House conservatives' favorite, Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, announced Thursday that he would not throw his hat in the ring. "After prayerful reflection, I have come to the conclusion that this is not the right office at the right time for me and my family," he said.
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Hensarling continues to be seen by many colleagues as a potential contender when leadership elections occur again after the November election.
Rules Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, also declared his intent to run for majority leader Wednesday, but McCarthy is favored in a one-on-one contest.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, declined to play favorites, telling reporters: "I do think that the members are going to make this decision." He added: "I've worked with all 434 other members of Congress before. I can work with whoever gets elected."
With McCarthy running for majority leader, his whip spot is now open. Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who runs a conservative faction of lawmakers in the Republican Study Committee, are vying for that job. Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., also declared his candidacy for whip on Thursday.
"I'm just getting started," Stutzman told a local Indiana politics blog. "I was up really late last night making calls. There will be a lot happening in the next few days," he said.
Leadership elections will take place June 19. The short duration is intended to head off bitter and divisive campaigns within the raucous GOP rank-and-file. "This is a time for unity," Boehner said Thursday.
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Despite Cantor's stunning defeat in Virginia, the U.S. House is still expected to stay under GOP control in the midterm elections. But Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., took issue with that conventional wisdom, arguing that Cantor's upset has focused the nation on what's happening inside the gridlocked U.S. Capitol.
"It's a whole new ballgame, because now the public is paying attention to what is going on here. And what is going on here is the Republican Party is going even further to the right," Pelosi said. Cantor's primary opponent, economics professor Dave Brat, ran to his right in the race and won by 10 percentage points.
"I don't know how things could get worse than the obstruction that is already here, but I do hope that when the public is paying attention it will improve the debate and people will understand what the choices are," Pelosi said.
Meanwhile, Republicans continue to debate what cost Cantor his Richmond-area congressional district. Americans for a Conservative Direction, a conservative outfit that supports a comprehensive immigration overhaul, commissioned a poll in Cantor's district of 400 voters who cast ballots in Tuesday's primary.
Nearly eight in ten, 77%, said immigration was not their chief motivating issue, while 22% did. Among Brat's supporters, the notion that Cantor "was too focused on national politics instead of local needs" and "lost touch with voters" fueled their opposition.
Source : http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/12/hensarling-stutzman-leadership-races/10367855/
