Two Florida Republican congressmen continued this week to try to rally support for U.S. Rep. Dan Webster, R-Fla., to be the next speaker of the U.S. House.
Webster challenged U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, at the start of the year but only mustered 12 votes. While neither U.S. Rep. David Jolly nor Ted Yoho, R-Fla., backed Webster in January, the two congressmen have been doubling down on their support for their fellow Florida Republican. Yoho ran for speaker himself back in January and Jolly supported Boehner back in January.
Yoho announced his support for Webster, who has the backing of the House Freedom Caucus, last week. After the GOP caucus met last week and postponed a leadership vote when U.S. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who had been the favorite to replace Boehner, ended his bid for the gavel, Yoho continued to support Webster.
On Monday, Yoho announced he would host an event for Webster in Newberry on Wednesday night.
“Candidate for speaker of the House, Congressman Dan Webster, will be joining us to tell us his plans to get our House back in order,” Yoho wrote supporters on Monday.
Jolly had been scheduled to speak on Webster’s behalf at the Republican caucus meeting last week and he has continued his efforts in recent days. Over the weekend, Jolly wrote a letter making the case for Webster to be speaker which was sent to Republican congressional representatives on Monday.
Also on Monday, Jolly took to the national airwaves, appearing on Newsmax and insisting Webster was the best choice for conservatives.
“Dan Webster and I have spoken about how we can achieve conservative victories while forever taking off the table the threat of a government shutdown and the leverage the president has when we get to Sept. 30th,” Jolly told John Bachman on Newsmax. “We have failed to legislate in Congress. We will accomplish far more for conservative policy goals if we get back to legislation.
“Dan Webster is the guy to do that,” Jolly added. “You know what I believe right now? We don't need a speaker to be the face of the party.”
Still, Jolly told Newsmax that U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would be very strong if he decides to run for speaker. Ryan has said he doesn’t want to wield the gavel but he is getting pressure from several key Republicans. U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Texas, has expressed interest in running for speaker if Ryan passes.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
