I would be curious if a centrist Republican could work with (centrist) Democrats to gain the speakership in exchange for some key concessions, such as pledging to not follow the Hastert Rule (a rule that most Republican speakers follow, that they will block a bill that does not have the support of the majority of the majority (Republican) party even if a bipartisan majority supports it). That assumes that a lot of Democrats will trust a Republican to be bipartisan and not weasel out of their word or be pressured by their party follow partisan lines.
There is zero reason for Democrats to throw any votes behind a Republican speaker. If the majority party can’t find a leader they agree on, that’s on them. Dems only need 5 Reps to back Jefferies.
Actually, the main thing that would block this at this point is that there is a Speaker Pro Tempore, and while he can’t do much one of the few things he can do is keep the House in recess until a Republican has enough Republican votes to win the election.
So, even in the hypothetical case where there is a centrist Republican who can pull this off, that person will have to get Patrick to agree to open the House to hold the vote in the first place.
I would be curious if a centrist Republican could work with (centrist) Democrats to gain the speakership in exchange for some key concessions, such as pledging to not follow the Hastert Rule (a rule that most Republican speakers follow, that they will block a bill that does not have the support of the majority of the majority (Republican) party even if a bipartisan majority supports it). That assumes that a lot of Democrats will trust a Republican to be bipartisan and not weasel out of their word or be pressured by their party follow partisan lines.
There is zero reason for Democrats to throw any votes behind a Republican speaker. If the majority party can’t find a leader they agree on, that’s on them. Dems only need 5 Reps to back Jefferies.
Actually, the main thing that would block this at this point is that there is a Speaker Pro Tempore, and while he can’t do much one of the few things he can do is keep the House in recess until a Republican has enough Republican votes to win the election.
So, even in the hypothetical case where there is a centrist Republican who can pull this off, that person will have to get Patrick to agree to open the House to hold the vote in the first place.