Tipsheet

Trump Isn't the Only Former President Some Have Floated as Speaker

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  October 16, 2023 8:00 PM

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) could be on his way to becoming Speaker of the House, with the body voting at noon on Tuesday. As Townhall has so far tallied, it looks like there's 140 House Republican members publicly sharing they're supporting Jordan, or they're at least open to it. Some are still holding out, though, even bringing up the possibility of a so-called compromise candidate. It's worth emphasizing that Democrats likely won't vote for a House Republican, and so it would be Republicans doing the comprimising. 

As our sister site of RedState highlighted, there's one name floating around. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) has suggested that former President George W. Bush could be the speaker. The speaker does not have to be a member of Congress, and some House Republicans had floated former and potentially future President Donald Trump's name before he endorsed Jordan.

"I could see George W. Bush serving as Speaker of the House. He could come back," Sherman offered while on "Forbes Newsroom," despite how he also mentioned, "I'm not a real fan of how the Iraq War went, but I would think that any reasonable Republican would be somebody that Democrats could work with."

Jordan has the nomination of the Republican Party, while the Democrats have nominated House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), just as they did at the start of the 118th Congress. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) eventually earned the gavel on the 15th round, during the early morning hours of January 7. 

McCarthy was ousted earlier this month when all Democratic members, at Jeffries' behest, joined eight Republicans in voting in favor of Rep. Matt Gaetz's (R-FL) motion to vacate the chair.

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Timing is of the essence, not only when it comes to averting a government shutdown, but also after Hamas attacked Israel earlier this month. Jordan addressed both concerns in a "Dear Colleagues" letter from earlier on Monday.

As journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed out in sharing Forbes' coverage of Sherman's suggestion, Bush could, in a way, be a "perfect" suggestion. 

"Bush/Cheney operatives and neocons fill the Green Rooms of CNN and MSNBC; they are those networks' most popular hosts; they fill the op-eds of the NYT and the Atlantic; and liberals work hard to insist Bush/Cheney were better than Trump," he pointed out.

Trends over X for the past several days have had to do with the speaker's race, including "Jordan for Speaker," "Speaker Jordan," "Vote for Jordan," and "Jim Jordan."

Other members have trended along with Jordan, including those who serve as remaining holdouts, such as "Steve Womack," a congressman from Arkansas, and New York's "Mike Lawler." Jordan can afford four defections if all Republicans are in attendance for Tuesday's vote. As he stressed to CNN's Manu Raju earlier on Tuesday, Jordan believes they will select a speaker on Tuesday.