More Thoughts on the Leadership Elections
If the state house stays the way it is, 102-101 in favor of Republicans, I wonder if one brave Republican soul would decide to take a stand and abstain from voting for Speaker when the chamber votes for Speaker. I’m not sure what would happen in that case, but I think the chaos would be appropriate. I know this much, that Republican would be considered in high regard by the public and villified by his colleagues. Considering how spineless most Reps are, I won’t hold my breath on this idea.
If I recall correctly, Mark Harris, when he was running for the House, said that he would not vote for Perzel as speaker. Too bad Mark didn’t win his election though because it would have made for an interesting vote.
On the federal level, I heard an interesting theory - more fun than reality. What if Republicans hand-picked a Democrat to run for speaker, or just voted for Steny Hoyer for Speaker instead of doing the usual opposition vote? Hoyer would only need 15 Democrats to support him - he’d be the next Speaker. He already has support of the moderate Blue Dog Democrats. It would almost be a coalition much like a parliment. The biggest benefit would be that Republicans would be able to deny Pelosi her dream of being Speaker of the House. Hoyer would also be able to give her the finger too - since they really don’t like each other. Again, I don’t think it will happen, but it sure would be fun to watch.