“The House of Representatives shall chuse their Speaker and other Officers”
U.S. Constitution – Article 1, Section 2
With only 213 Democrats elected during the mid-term elections it would seem the Party will have no realistic say in the election of the chamber’s next Speaker.
Kevin McCarthy, the current frontrunner, has demonstrated he’ll make Faustian bargains with Trump, Jim Jordan or anyone else who will allow him to retain the leadership of an increasingly fractured, intolerant and fundamentalist-oriented Republican Party and his election as the next Speaker.
However, if House Democrats were to think outside-the-box and identify as few as five moderate Republicans genuinely loyal to the Constitution and their oaths of office while also wanting to end their party’s Trump nightmare all hope might not be lost.
As there is no Constitutional requirement the Speaker be a current member of the House, Democrats with very limited Republican support could nominate and elect a moderate Republican who has demonstrated an allegiance to our Constitution and preservation of our fragile democracy. While such members of the Democrat’s loyal opposition may be few and far between, perhaps they might consider John Kasick, Larry Hogan or even Liz Cheney!
Such a Hobson’s Choice might be hard to swallow for Progressives, but the alternative could be far more distasteful!
