Republican leaders in Polk County mostly unfazed by standoff over U.S. House Speaker
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Just like the Republicans voting in the U.S. House chamber, prominent Republicans in Polk expressed less than unanimous views Friday on the battle to determine the next Speaker of the House.
Most, but not all, displayed at least some appreciation for the faction blocking the election of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, even if they might have been impatient for a resolution of the impasse.
Jim Guth, the newly elected Chair of the Polk County Republican Party, said fellow members support the efforts of the minority group who withheld votes for McCarthy as they pressed for various policy changes or pledges.
“The response I've gotten out of the members of the Republican Executive Committee in Polk County have been pretty much all across the board supportive of trying to get either those concessions or somebody that has a little more conservative record than what McCarthy has shown,” Guth said Friday morning.
Pat Schmid, President of the Republican Club of Solivita, had a contrasting take on the showdown that had postponed the inauguration of new House members and blocked all official business through Friday afternoon.
“I don't support what they're doing, and I don't think that what they're doing is the right thing at all,” Schmid said Friday morning, as the House prepared for a 12th vote in which McCarthy again failed to reach the 217 votes needed for election. “If they had a candidate that they were behind, then why are they switching so frequently from one Congressman or Congress-elect to another? They don't know what they're doing. I’m discouraged by the behavior that is going on in Washington today.”
The four-day drama continued Friday afternoon as McCarthy gained votes but again failed to claim a majority from House members on the 13th ballot. It was the first time in a century that the U.S. House had required more than one ballot to choose its Speaker.
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Guth leads the Republican Party in a solidly red county. Former President Donald Trump carried Polk County by more than 14 percentage points in the 2020 election, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis captured the county by nearly 30 points in November.
Guth said he thinks the holdouts, led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fort Walton Beach, have legitimate concerns. Among the issues he and other local Republicans mentioned: demands that McCarthy not use money from his political-action committee to support election challengers to Republican members and a change in House rules allowing a single member to call for a vote to replace the Speaker.
The latter policy would restore the rules that existed before Nancy Pelosi, D-California, became House Speaker in 2019. Under Pelosi, a majority from either party was needed to request the Speaker’s replacement.
'Not overly distressed'
Guth said he saw a poll showing that many Republican voters would like to see Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chosen as Speaker. Jordan has received some votes but has indicated he doesn’t want the position and has supported McCarthy.
While agreeing with some of the criticisms of the anti-McCarthy contingent, Guth did not embrace the idea that McCarthy should defer to another Republican as House Speaker.
“It’s a very powerful job, but it's relatively thankless,” Guth said. “I don't particularly agree with the people that say that McCarthy can't lead."
Guth said that McCarthy’s voting record in recent years has aligned with the Republican cause “relatively solidly,” adding, “You're not going to find a perfect politician.”
“I'm not overly distressed,” Guth said. “A little disappointed that we couldn't come to a conclusion a little quicker, but I'm not distressed because I think the process is working. We're going to come up with somebody that is the right person and, frankly, (have) a good, healthy debate, which has been squelched under the Nancy Pelosi regime.”
Polk County Commissioner Neil Combee, a former Florida legislator, said he has been trying to avoid political statements lately but couldn’t refrain from posting his opinion about the House showdown on Facebook. He wrote that the 20 Republicans opposing McCarthy — a group that had shrunk by Friday afternoon — were “on the right side of this issue.”
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The Speaker of the House, regardless of party, “has super fundraising power and can bury candidates who do not toe the line,” Combee wrote. Reached Friday morning, Combee said it is “disgusting and disgraceful” that a party leader would provide campaign money to someone challenging a sitting member from their own party.
Combee said that he had no personal animosity toward McCarthy, whom he described as “a nice guy.” Combee said he once had dinner with McCarthy as a member of the Florida legislative delegation during a trip to Washington, D.C.
Supporting call for change
In his Facebook post, Combee suggested that McCarthy should be more willing to make concessions to the Republican House members blocking his election.
“Rep. (Lauren) Boebert (of Colorado) said she assured Rep. McCarthy he would have the 218 votes needed to win the Speaker's race if he would agree to some procedural changes,” Combee wrote. “She says he basically told her to buzz off. Major miscalculation by McCarthy.”
Boebert was among the seven Republicans still voting against McCarthy on the 13th ballot Friday afternoon.
Ed Shoemaker, State Committeeman for the Polk County Republican Party, said he didn’t think the intraparty skirmish was cause for concern.
“I think everybody would like to see it resolved,” Shoemaker said Friday morning, “however, we’ve got to keep in mind that it's a process. I mean, it's good healthy debate, something that our country has missed for several years, and I think that in the end, everything will come out good, positive, and we'll get on with business.”
Shoemaker did not express a preference on the outcome.
“Well, to be quite honest with you, I'm just going to sit back and let it play out,” he said. “I mean, 90% of the House Republicans support McCarthy. I think that the 20 others have some legitimate requests from their end.”
Schmid had a less sanguine assessment.
“My preference is to get together and stop looking like such fools and just causing such dissension in the party,” she said.
Frustration from House members
Polk County’s Republican House contingent has remained solidly behind McCarthy since Tuesday’s first vote. Rep. Scott Franklin, R-Lakeland, joined a group of House members who are military veterans in a news conference Wednesday night to express support for McCarthy.
Franklin, elected in November to a second term, also posted a statement critical of the anti-McCarthy faction. He noted that Republicans in November’s election regained majority status in the House after four years of Democratic control.
“The American people gave Republicans a majority in Congress to put a stop to the all Democrat pro inflation agenda, investigate the Biden administration's mini scandals and failures, secure our border and counter China's malign influence,” Franklin wrote. “We can't achieve these goals while engaged in a public spat over who will be Speaker of the House. We have 90% of the Republican Conference supporting Kevin McCarthy for speaker and I am proud to be one of them.”
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In writing that the other 10% of Republicans were “distracting” the party from pursuing its goals, Franklin offered an indirect criticism of Gaetz, one of his closest House allies. Gaetz came to Lakeland in 2018 to campaign for Franklin in his primary challenge to Ross Spano, then a Republican House member.
After winning the primary, Franklin thanked Gaetz and called him “my Wingman.”
Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Clermont, was reelected in November in House District 11, which was redrawn to include northern Polk County. In a statement his office sent The Ledger on Friday, Webster noted that he ran for House Speaker in 2015.
Webster noted that McCarthy has drawn support from such conservatives as Jordan, whom he called “my friend,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, and former President Donald Trump.
“Last month, Kevin McCarthy accepted specific House Rule changes that I have pushed for years that empower individual members and improve transparency in the legislative process,” Webster wrote. “There is more work to be done to fix the swamp, but these changes are a true step in the right direction and for these reasons,”
Webster avoided criticizing the holdouts, saying that voters “are getting to see democracy in action as members of the Republican conference debate and work toward a consensus.”
Laurel Lee, formerly Florida’s Secretary of State, gained election to the House in November as a Republican in District 15, which covers western Polk County, including part of Lakeland, and parts of Hillsborough and Pasco counties. The delayed election of a House Speaker left Lee in limbo, not yet officially inaugurated into office.
Lee and others newly elected to the House have taken part in the votes, and she supported McCarthy on every ballot. Lee had apparently made no public statements about the process as of Friday afternoon, and her office did not respond to a request for comment.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, represented Polk County for two terms before redistricting changed the boundaries of District 17. Steube cast his vote for McCarthy on every ballot starting Tuesday.
“My priority is to get to work for the American people. We can’t do that without a Speaker,” Steube tweeted Thursday, linking to an interview he did with Fox Business.
Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, joined all House Democrats in casting every vote for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York.
“House Democrats just finished the 117th Congress, the most productive in over 50 years," Soto said in an emailed statement. "In this 118th Congress, we remain united behind our leader Hakeem Jeffries, and are again prepared to govern in a responsible, bipartisan manner. It’s time for Republicans to get their house in order for the good of the American people.”
Not expecting any fallout
While some House members displayed obvious frustration with the delay in taking control of the House, most local Republicans did not seem concerned that the de facto shutdown would harm the party’s reputation.
“Once they get it settled, it’ll be (in the) rear-view mirror, I think,” Combee said. “It’s not a big deal. Obviously, Democrats want people to think it's a big deal. If they were doing it, they’d say, ‘Ah, nah, just the system working here and we'll get through this.’ I think the same is true, regardless of whether it was the Democrats or Republicans. Once we get past it, it’ll be a non-issue.”
Likewise, Guth said he didn’t foresee any significant fallout.
“I don't think there's any lasting damage,” he said. “Is there some short-term damage? I guess it depends on what side of the fence you're on. I will tell you that the people who are really conservative — I would tell you that the majority of people who have written me and called me are kind of that ilk — they are really happy that this group of 20 are holding the line.”
Shoemaker said he doesn’t expect the episode to weaken Republicans just as they have regained control of the House.
“No, I really don't,” he said. “I mean, maybe some people perceive it as being damaging; I'm sure they'll have their own take on it. Like I said, I think in the end, if people look at it as a healthy process and in the right perspective, I don't think it's going to be damaging at all.”
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Republican leaders in Polk County mostly unfazed by House Speaker fight
