Dr. Ben Carson should replace U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio? A Florida congressman with his eyes on a U.S. Senate seat is open to the idea.
Roll Call reported on Wednesday that U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., who is running to replace U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2016, said at a campaign event this week that the House could choose an outsider like Carson, a celebrated physician who has broken into the top tier of Republican presidential hopefuls, to serve as speaker.
“I would go bold, you don’t have to be a member of Congress to be the speaker of the House,” DeSantis said. “I would support someone like Dr. Carson or somebody like that, I think that would be good."
But DeSantis’ staff threw some cold water on the idea in a follow up email to Roll Call.
“The congressman was just throwing out ideas,” Elizabeth Dillon, a spokeswoman for DeSantis, insisted to Roll Call. “He has not yet made any commitments in regards to the upcoming leadership elections.”
As DeSantis noted, the House can choose an outsider to serve as speaker. At the start of this year, when Boehners faced a leadership challenge, U.S. Rep. Curt Clawson, R-Fla., threw his support behind U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who, like Carson, is running for the Republican presidential nomination.
Carson has shown no interest in serving as speaker of the House. U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is the favorite to be chosen as the speaker in next week’s meeting. U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Fla., who challenged Boehner earlier this year, is also running again. When Webster and U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., took on Boehner at the start of the year, DeSantis gave his support to the Ohio Republican.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
