Here’s where Speaker candidates stood on 4 key votes

The spotlight in the House is now on the nine Republican lawmakers vying for their chance at the gavel, as the lower chamber approaches nearly three weeks without an elected Speaker.

The House has been entangled in chaos since eight Republicans joined all House Democrats to boot former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from the top spot earlier this month.

The vote sent the House into uncharted territory, and Republicans have struggled to coalesce around a replacement. The conference’s first two nominees dropped their bids after being unable to get 217 votes on the House floor.

The nine Republicans running for the chance to be the party’s third nominee are: House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.), House Republican Conference Vice Chairman Mike Johnson (La.), Reps. Jack Bergman (Mich.), Austin Scott (Ga.), Kevin Hern (Okla.), Byron Donalds (Fla.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Dan Meuser (Pa.) and Gary Palmer (Ala.).

The candidates will make their case to the GOP conference in a closed-door meeting Monday night, but for those on the outside, here’s a look at where the candidates stood on four recent key votes.

Debt ceiling deal 

President Biden and McCarthy reached a debt ceiling agreement at the end of last May, just days ahead of what would’ve been an unprecedented default on the federal government’s debt.

The House went on to pass the bipartisan bill to raise the debt ceiling in a 314-117 vote. The Senate later approved the bill, and Biden signed the deal just two days before the potential default.

A total of 71 Republicans voted against the debt ceiling suspension, including five of the current Speaker candidates.

Here’s how they voted on the debt ceiling deal:

• Emmer voted YES

• Johnson voted YES

• Bergman voted YES

• Austin Scott voted YES

• Hern voted NO

• Donalds voted NO

• Sessions voted NO

• Meuser voted NO

• Palmer voted NO

Latest continuing resolution 

After weeks of wrangling with GOP infighting, McCarthy brought to the House floor a “clean” short-term funding bill, known as a continuing resolution (CR), that averted a government shutdown just hours before funding was set to run out.

The CR funds the government at current spending levels through the Nov. 17. The funding increased federal disaster assistance by $16 billion to meet the Biden administration’s previous request, but it did not include any funding for Ukraine, a White House priority largely opposed by several GOP members.

The bill also lacked spending cuts or border policy changes, dealing a blow to hard-line conservatives who objected to any CR without such changes.

The measure was cleared by the House in a largely bipartisan 335-91 vote, with one Democrat and 90 Republicans voting in opposition. The bill then overwhelmingly passed in the Senate in an 88-9 vote, and it was signed by President Biden shortly before the looming midnight deadline.

Here’s how they each voted on the latest CR:

• Emmer voted YES

• Bergman voted YES

• Scott voted YES

• Sessions voted YES

• Meuser voted YES

• Rep. Kevin Hern voted NO

• Johnson voted NO

• Palmer voted NO

• Rep. Byron Donalds did not vote

Ukraine aid 

Ukraine aid has remained a source of controversy for Republicans in Congress. That division has been clear in a number of votes over the past several months.

One of those was on a stand-alone bill to provide $300 million in aid — a total that had been stripped from the Pentagon funding bill.

The aid passed in a 311-117 vote. All the “no” votes came from Republicans, including five of the Speaker candidates.

Here’s how the candidates voted:

• Emmer voted YES

• Bergman voted YES

• Scott voted YES

• Sessions voted YES

• Hern voted NO

• Johnson voted NO

• Donalds voted NO

• Meuser voted NO

• Palmer voted NO

Certifying the 2020 election

In the hours that followed the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol, 139 House Republicans voted to object to the election results in either Arizona, Pennsylvania or both. The vote to overturn Arizona’s election results failed 121-303 and the vote to overturn Pennsylvania’s results failed 138-282.

Emmer and Scott are the only two Speaker candidates to not object to either Arizona or Pennsylvania’s results.

Here’s how each Speaker candidate voted on the objections:

• Emmer opposed objections to both Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s election results.

• Hern voted to object to both the Arizona and Pennsylvania election results.

• Johnson voted to object to the election results in both Arizona and Pennsylvania.

• Donalds voted to object to both Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s election results.

• Bergman voted yes on objecting to Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s election results.

• Scott opposed objections to both Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s election results.

• Sessions voted in favor of objecting to Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential results.

• Meuser voted to sustain an objection to Pennsylvania’s election results but did not object to Arizona’s election results.

• Palmer objected to both Arizona’s and Pennsylvania’s election results.

Lauren Sforza contributed to this report.

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