Mere hours after the US House of Representatives vacated the office of Speaker, Congressman Kevin Hern of Oklahoma's 1st district, was being broadly encouraged to accept the office of Speaker by his Republican peers. This is not the first time Hern has received congressional votes for Speaker. Last January Hern was nominated by some of those who were disenfranchised by McCarthy's legacy and tendancies. Hern refused to separate from McCarthy at that time, but now that the Republicans seem split, Hern and his supporters believe he is the most consensus candidate in the Rublican House caucus. Hern joined the Freedom caucus in 2018, when he filled the vacant seat Jim Bridenstine created when he became Trump's pick to lead NASA. Hern and Jim Jordan began a warm and productive friendship. The two were seen at multiple Oklahoma events, including town hall meetings and receptions. Hern later led the Republican Study Group in developing a path to a balanced budget by 2030. This led to Hern meeting with Trump Trump's financial advisors. Hern was quickly promoted to chair of the Republican study group. RSG is the largest conference and plays a key role in developing policy for the congressional game plan. |
McCarthy's detractors have expressed strong support for Hern and will likely extend more good will to the former fast food chain owner than the other career politicians.
SoonerPolitics is enthusiastic to see this development.
The last time an Oklahoman sought House leadership was in 1999, when Stave Largent(also from Tulsa) came close to becoming Majority Leader.
Before that, only Carl Albert of Little Dixie served as Speaker in the 1970s.
Other names being mentions in the current Speaker race include Steve Scalise of Louisiana (battling cancer and other disabilities) Jim Jordan of Ohio, and Congressman Tom Emmer, of Minnesota.