With U.S. House Speaker, John Boehner, R-Ohio, now on the way out, U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Fla., could stand at the center of the congressional stage even as he faces questions about his future in the Sunshine State.
Despite losing to Boehner earlier in the year, Webster could be a factor if he decides to pursue the gavel. If Webster won, he would be the first congressional leader to call Florida home. On Friday, Webster kept a low profile though he did play up his leadership role in the Florida House in a statement to the Tampa Bay Times on Boehner's exit.
After Boehner announced that he is stepping down at the end of next month from Congress, Webster emailed supporters on Friday afternoon, insisting he is not sure what he will do even as allies urge him to try again.
“Speaker Boehner announced this morning that he will resign his seat in the US House of Representatives at the end of October, stepping down from his post as Speaker. I do believe that it is time for us to turn a new page in the House of Representatives - one that promotes principle-based policy,” Webster noted on Friday. “Many members of Congress and supporters, above and beyond those who voted to elect me as speaker in January, have already reached out to ask me to run for speaker. I am honored that they would consider me, however, I have not yet come to a decision on what I will do. I strongly believe that something must change if we are going to move our country in the right direction.”
But, a few hours later, Webster announced he was running again.
"My goal is for the House of Representatives to be based on principle, not on power," Webster said. "Every member of Congress deserves a seat at the table to be involved in the process. I will continue fighting for this to become a reality in Washington, and will be running for speaker of the House."
Earlier this year, Webster was Boehner’s main challenger, gaining 12 votes against the speaker but getting kicked off the powerful U.S. House Rules Committee after his bid failed. Webster told The Hill earlier this week that he was being asked to take Boehner on again.
One of Webster’s biggest boosters is U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who had been talking up the Florida congressman’s chances against Boehner before the speaker announced on Friday that he was going to resign before the end of October. Talking to CNN earlier this month, Massie, who has been vocal in his call to remove Boehner, floated Webster’s name as a potential replacement.
"Look, the problem that we have here is not an ideological problem with Speaker Boehner," Massie told CNN. "The problem that we have here is that he's subverting our republic."
"Daniel Webster is a very viable alternative," Massie added.
Besides facing the threat of a leadership challenge, Boehner also faced the thorny problem of extending a budget resolution by the end of the month or face another federal shutdown. Some conservatives in the GOP caucus, including some of Boehner’s fiercest critics, are drawing a line in the sand over Planned Parenthood, refusing to back any budgetary agreement that funds that organization.
But some observers are discounting Webster’s chances and talking up other options, including U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Matt Fuller from Roll Call played down Webster’s odds of becoming speaker in a piece published on Thursday.
“Webster’s run for speaker was based not on his personal politics, but on changing the process by which Republicans in Congress operate,” Fuller wrote. “He wanted to make the lawmaking process more inclusive. While that message may resonate with a majority in the GOP conference, it’s difficult to imagine a scenario where Webster -- let alone anyone other than Boehner -- could actually win the speakership.”
As congressional redistricting continues to remain unsettled in Florida, Webster’s future remains cloudy. Under the base map used by the Legislature in a special session last month to tackle redistricting, Webster would have faced a far more Democratic district than his current one, prompting some major Democratic candidates to line up against him. Former Orlando Police Chief Val Demings, who Webster barely beat in 2012, and state Sen. Geri Thompson, D-Orlando, have already launched bids against Webster.
Webster currently represents parts of Orange and Polk counties and most of Lake County. Under the base map the Legislature is using for congressional redistricting, his new district would be far more Democratic, taking in only parts of Orange County and bringing in 150,000 voters -- more than 90,000 of them Democrats -- currently represented by U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla.
Webster testified before the joint legislative committee tackling redistricting in Tallahassee last month and tore into the base map.
“The new plan disfavors incumbents,” Webster told the committee. “An affirmative vote for this plan ... is a specific intent to disfavor me as an incumbent.”
The Republican congressman even insisted the base map “makes the seat uncompetitive for anyone in my party" and was built to “eliminate an incumbent.”
Webster has been in Florida politics since 1980 when he was first elected to the state House. A staunch conservative, he served longer in the Legislature than anyone else in Florida history, leading the GOP caucus in the House before becoming the first Republican speaker since Reconstruction after the 1996 elections.
After facing term limits in 1998, Webster moved on to the Senate. While he failed in his efforts to become Senate president, he did serve as Senate majority leader. Turning his eyes to federal office once he faced term limits in the Senate, Webster blew out U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., in 2010, but two years later, in a far better year for Democrats, he almost lost to Demings.
Webster’s been honored in his district and in Tallahassee with everything from a section of SR 429 to a room in the state Capitol named after him. But none of the maps advancing in the Legislature this week are helping his chances for a fourth term.
Democrats tried to recruit Demings to take on Webster in 2014 but she explored looking at county office instead. But, on Monday, Demings announced she would run against the Republican congressman again. In 2012, Webster beat Demings 52 percent to 48 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
