Top Republicans Face Dissent as McCarthy Wins GOP Nod for Speaker
On Capitol Hill on Wednesday, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor joined the ranks of House Republicans who are not voting for Majority Leader Eric Cantor to be House Republican Conference Chairman and, in so doing, may have signaled that the next year’s leadership fight will be between the House and the conservative faction.
Cantor is the highest-ranking House Republican on the Hill to endorse former Representative Vin Weber for chairman of the Republican National Committee and to support Rep. Joe Walsh for the House Speaker. (They are running for Minority Leader John Boehner’s post, as Boehner prepares to step down and take a Cabinet job.)
I’m curious about Cantor’s decision to endorse Weber. After Cantor was defeated in the primary and lost his leadership position, he has not endorsed a replacement. If he backs Weber or Walsh, he risks losing the votes of the conservative wing of the House Republican conference.
I am a big fan of Cantor and Weber and look forward to their leadership on the House GOP side. We need to be unified if the conservative-majority wing of the party is going to win the majority in the House.
I am disappointed about Cantor’s vote. I want to believe what I read on his blog about the importance of being unified in the House Republican Conference. He said in his blog that unity is his goal and that he is not going to abandon the conservatives. All he is doing is supporting the person who would like to succeed him. I just don’t think it will unite the House Republican Conference.
I don’t believe Cantor will ever support a candidate from his own party to be Speaker. I am sure his decision to back Weber was driven by Weber’s close relationship with Cantor. I don’t agree with Cantor’s decision. While I may not agree with everything Weber does, I don’t think he will be a very effective Speaker or his vote to support Weber will be as important as what he said in his blog
