Rep. Andy Ogles Gives Thoughts On Upcoming Speaker’s Race

Image Credit: Congressman Andy Ogles / Facebook

The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

U.S. Representative Andy Ogles spent some time Sunday evening discussing what he expects will take place when House Republicans select a new speaker.

Ogles was in attendance at State Senator Jack Johnson’s annual Boots and Beans fundraiser in Franklin. While there, Ogles weighed in on what he thought about the issue of a new speaker.

Following Ohio Representative Jim Jordan’s failed bid, there are candidates who have thrown their name into the ring for the position: Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer, Oklahoma Representative Kevin Hern, Michigan Representative Jack Bergman, Georgia Representative Austin Scott, Florida Representative Byron Donalds, Louisiana Representative Mike Johnson, Texas Representative Pete Sessions, and Alabama Representative Gary Palmer.

Ogles stated that he felt Jordan was the best candidate to replace Kevin McCarthy, but, according to Ogles, “the powers-that-be knifed him in the back” in a secret ballot that took place at a closed-door meeting. 

“So we’ll go back on Tuesday, and then again, in the basement of the Capitol behind closed doors, we’ll have secret ballots,” Ogles said. “And what we’ll do is we’ll have a vote and have the vote tally. The lowest vote getter is eliminated. So you go from nine to eight, eight to seven, and it repeats until you get to the last two. And then whoever gets 50% plus one will be the speaker designated.”

“And this is me just guessing at this point, on Wednesday evening-ish, we will go to the House floor and we’ll vote for speaker,” he said. “Now the thing to that is there may be a protest vote on the first round because of what they did to Jim Jordan. But then I predict on the second round, whoever it is will be elected.”

U.S. Representative Mark Green of Ashland City was considering a bid for the speaker’s position, but he did not file for candidacy prior to the Sunday deadline.

There was a floating of U.S. Representative Mark Green’s name for the new speakership, but he did not file to become a candidate for the ballot before the Sunday deadline.