Trump’s influence looming over next House speakership election

Former President Donald Trump’s influence in the Republican Party is likely to be felt in the House speakership election next week if he chooses to back a candidate after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted on Tuesday.

McCarthy survived a rebellion from hard-line conservatives in January who sought to prevent him from taking ranks as the top House Republican with Trump’s backing. The former president used his platform to lobby lawmakers to elect McCarthy after the California congressman fell short in three rounds of voting. Amid the chaos on the House floor, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) passed around a phone with Trump on the line to talk to House members.

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Despite Trump’s endorsement relatively early on, McCarthy was only voted through after 15 long rounds, and the historic ousting this week could put the weight of Trump’s support into question.

While the significance of the former president’s endorsement in the upcoming House speakership election remains to be seen, some Republican lawmakers are already pushing to elect Trump as speaker. In January, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) nominated Trump in multiple rounds.

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX), who was not among the conservatives who voted to remove McCarthy, said he’ll nominate Trump as the House speaker on Tuesday.

“This week, when the U.S. House of Representatives reconvenes, my first order of business will be to nominate Donald J. Trump for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives,” Nehls said in a statement. “President Trump, the greatest president of my lifetime, has a proven record of putting America first and will make the House great again.”

Echoing Nehls’s call, Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) called for Trump as House speaker in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. Both Republicans voted for McCarthy in all rounds during his uphill battle for speaker earlier this year.

Greene joined the movement to nominate Trump, saying on X that Trump is the “only candidate for speaker” she’s currently supporting, listing off a number of reasons to elect the former president to the top House Republican role.

Trump did not take a firm stance leading up to the vote against McCarthy, but criticized the intraparty disputes between the GOP, writing on his social media platform, Truth Social, on Tuesday, “Why is it that Republicans are always fighting among themselves, why aren’t they fighting the Radical Left Democrats who are destroying our Country?”

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The current GOP front-runner diverted questions about a potential run for House speaker as he entered court in New York for the third day for the civil fraud trial against him, telling reporters he’s focused on his presidential run.

“If I can help them during the process, I would do it,” Trump said on Wednesday. “But we have some great people in the Republican Party. They will do a great job as speaker.”