The latest conservative effort to boot John Boehner as speaker of the House could impact a Republican congressman running for the Senate in Florida.
Mark Meadows and other conservatives have little chance to take Boehner down, but their latest attempt puts Ron DeSantis in something of a tight spot.
Conservatives tried to defeat Boehner at the start of the year and Florida was at the heart of his opposition. Boehner faced two challengers from Florida in Dan Webster and Ted Yoho. Webster proved the more serious threat and he picked up support of Rich Nugent and Bill Posey in the Florida delegation while Curt Clawson went his own way and voted for Rand Paul.
Some conservatives were hopeful that DeSantis would join the anti-Boehner effort but, when the smoke cleared, he stayed behind the speaker. Certainly he was the most notable conservative from Florida who did not join the coup. Conservatives, including some that are backing him in the Senate race, were disappointed by DeSantis not going against the speaker.
DeSantis profited in the short run. While Wesbter and Nugent were booted off the Rules Committee for their effort against Boehner, DeSantis rose in the House, moving up to chair the National Security Subcommittee and keep his vice-chairmanship of the Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee.
Now DeSantis is trying to nail down conservatives in the Republican primary to replace Marco Rubio and plenty of activists are calling for Boehner’s scalp. DeSantis should find it easy to get to the right of David Jolly and Carlos-Lopez Cantera but, like the other candidates, he is largely unknown, giving opponents a chance to brand him before he can fully introduce himself. Todd Wilcox will certainly try to run to DeSantis’ right and now Yoho is mulling over entering the race.
DeSantis won’t have the right all to himself in this Senate primary. While he helped found the House Freedom Caucus, so did Meadows who is now leading the latest charge against Boehner. That makes DeSantis’ past support of Boehner even more glaring.
Chances are Meadows’ resolution to vacate the chair won’t see the light of day. But if it does make the House floor, DeSantis will be in a pickle. If he abandons Boehner, DeSantis will have to explain what happened in 2015 that caused him to turn against the speaker. If DeSantis stays behind Boehner, he will turn off plenty of conservatives and give Wilcox and possibly Yoho some room to his right.
While he certainly has a good chance to claim the right from Jolly and Lopez-Cantera, as conservatives increasingly grow frustrated with the speaker, another vote on Boehner could give DeSantis problems no matter where he goes. DeSantis can be excused if he wants Meadows’ efforts to get buried in committee.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
