Some House Republicans are urging Speaker John Boehner to delay votes on several leadership positions, GOP aides said Sunday.
The vote to elect the GOP candidate for speaker is set for Thursday. But some Republicans are pushing for separate votes on the No. 2 House majority leader and No. 3 House majority whip spots, a GOP aide said.
That would separate the leadership votes and give conservatives more time to rally around candidates — particularly one to oppose Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Rep. Tom Price of Georgia for majority leader.
The decision is up to the speaker’s office — and so far, no delays have been announced.
“All leadership elections remain on Thursday,” said Kevin Smith, a spokesman for Boehner.
A GOP leadership aide said the proposed changes are under “active consideration,” however.
The effort to delay some of the leadership votes was first reported by Politico. It’s being driven by Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina, who formally requested the delay in a letter set to be publicly released in the coming hours.
In the letter, Mulvaney argues that procedurally, further elections can’t be set until other offices — like majority leader, with McCarthy running for speaker — are actually vacated.
He writes that “the current Rules dictate such elections would be premature until another leadership office is vacated by the office holder. Simply put, we cannot and should not hold elections for vacancies that have not occurred prior to October 8th.”
The vote for Boehner’s replacement as speaker looks unlikely to move. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California is widely supported to move into the role, but on Sunday Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah said he’ll run against McCarthy.
Scalise held a conference call Sunday night, telling House GOP supporters he has enough support to lock up the majority leader race.
“The winning number in this race is 124, and Scalise hit that mark days ago,” said a source close to Scalise. “He’s well past it now and is continuing to earn more support. He’s got the opportunity to blow the top off this race.”
