Ted Yoho Tried to Delay GOP House Leadership Vote

Republicans in the U.S. House caucused on Thursday and chose U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., to replace U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., as House majority leader. They also selected U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., to replace McCarthy as GOP whip.

U.S. Rep. Ted Yoho, R-Fla., weighed in on Thursday after the vote and said he backed U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Ind., over McCarthy but did back Scalise. Yoho also tried unsuccessfully to move the vote back a week.

Yesterday in the House Republican conference I introduced a motion to delay the vote for the majority leader of the Republican Party for one week, Yoho said after the vote. I did this so we would be able to do our due diligence and have the needed time to vet the candidates. This would also allow time for other members to enter the race and campaign. My motion was not accepted and the vote was held today. This is a critical vote not just for the Republican conference in Congress but also for the direction of the Republican Party and our nation. This is why I believed we should have given more people more time to put their names forward for the position.

The next majority leader stands a good chance to be the next speaker of the House, Yoho added. Given the importance of this vote today, we should have given it more time. The direction of our party and our nation will not improve until we have leadership that has a strong vision for America. Therefore, I supported Raul Labrador for majority leader and Steve Scalise for majority whip.