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New York swing district Republicans split on House Speaker vote

Oct 19, 2023 12:51 pm

Kevin Frey reports for New York One that the six Republicans who won so-called swing districts in New York in the 2022 election are split on who should be House Speaker. The six are largely credited with giving Republicans a slim, five-seat majority. But now Reps. Marc Molinaro, Brandon Williams, and George Santos voted for Jim Jordan to be House Speaker on two votes on Oct. 17 and 18. But he other three — Reps. Mike Lawler, Anthony D’Esposito, and Nick LaLota — backed other candidates. D’Esposito is opposed to Jordan’s past votes opposing aid for victims of 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy and to shut down the government. LaLota says he has been talking with Jordan, and Lawler is backing former speaker Kevin McCarthy. Molinaro, who represents the 19th Congressional District, told reporters last week that people “don’t give a s--t who the speaker of the House is, they care if we are functioning and delivering for them” and now that two votes for Jordan have failed he said, “I made a choice because I felt two very important things: We need to unite the conference and we need to govern. I gave that opportunity.... But at this point, very clearly, we need to govern. And if we as a conference can’t coalesce around a singular candidate, we at the very least coalesce around the responsibility to govern.” Molinaro now says temporarily empowering the caretaker speaker, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, is the best next step. Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan, who represents the 18th Congressional District, is no fan of Jordan, saying, “Not supporting a known insurrectionist, who is also incredibly incompetent, and nasty and divisive — that should just be what every member did.... You would think in a moment like this, we’d see some moderate step forward, not just in an oppositional way to block a bad candidate, but to actually say, ‘This is what the American people want: a bipartisan way forward.’” Read more about this story at New York One.