Trump backers lack Ryan alternative

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has one big thing going for him amid the barrage of criticism from Donald Trump’s supporters: a lack of competition. 

Conservatives are agitating to dump Ryan from the Speaker’s chair over his handling of Trump, the party’s presidential nominee, but do not have a clear alternative to replace him. Members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus aren’t actively fielding a candidate, and not a single lawmaker has yet announced they’ll seek the job.

{mosads}It’s a dynamic deeply frustrating for leadership allies who say critics should, at a minimum, find a candidate before trying to undermine Ryan in the Speakership election. 

“Tell me who that’s going to be that people will say, ‘Well, after all [Ryan’s] done, after how hard he’s worked, assuming we maintain our majority, I think we’ll try somebody else.’ That’s just a wasted exercise. And sitting here nipping at his heels when he’s out really busting his rear end to try and help all our members strikes me as counterproductive,” Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) told The Hill.

“Until somebody has a candidate, I don’t see why you would be second-guessing your quarterback in the middle of the game,” Cole said. 

Even if Ryan were to step down voluntarily, there’s no obvious person to succeed him.

The current No. 2 House Republican, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), fell short during his bid for Speaker a year ago when the Freedom Caucus wouldn’t back him.

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) and Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) ran for Speaker last year as well but weren’t able to build sufficient coalitions to win.

Republicans are widely expected to lose House seats in the Nov. 8 elections but retain their majority. That means Ryan, or anyone else running for Speaker, would have a narrower margin for victory. 

Fox News host and Trump ally Sean Hannity recently floated two Freedom Caucus leaders, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), for Speaker instead of Ryan.

Jordan, the group’s chairman, has consistently swatted away calls to run for a spot in the GOP leadership. 

Meadows similarly told The Hill he’s not interested in the job. 

Meadows does, however, want to become the next Freedom Caucus chairman if Jordan decides not to run for another term leading the caucus. 

In the meantime, he’s trying to avoid fanning the flames. A Meadows spokesman said he wouldn’t be opining on leadership races anymore until after the elections. 

No one from the Freedom Caucus ran for Speaker after Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was pushed out a year ago. And none of them have come forward to challenge Ryan so far.  

Freedom Caucus members have repeatedly angered colleagues during intraparty fights, likely making it difficult for any of them to clinch the 218 votes needed to become Speaker.

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), a Freedom Caucus member, expressed “bitter disappointment” earlier this month when Ryan announced he’d no longer defend Trump or campaign with him. But at this point, Frank still supports Ryan for Speaker. 

“I have been supportive of Paul and remain supportive of him. I think the only major contention Paul and I’ve ever had has been over our approach to this Nov. 8 election given the profound implications it poses to everyone in the nation,” Franks said in a phone interview.

Yet Franks left the door open to supporting someone else for Speaker after the election. 

“I hadn’t anticipated there even being a major race for Speaker. If that does happen, of course I would wait until the record and the new political landscape were considered before we made any dramatic decisions,” Franks said.

Hannity has Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), a conservative firebrand, as another alternative for Speaker. Yet Gohmert got only three votes during the January 2015 election for Speaker, one of which he cast himself.

In perhaps the most unrealistic scenario of all, Ryan’s primary challenger, Paul Nehlen, announced an outsider bid for Speaker this week.

While the Speaker doesn’t have to be a member of the House, it’s never happened in U.S. history. Most if not all Republicans would never seriously consider Nehlen, who lost to Ryan by nearly 70 points in August.

Some conservative groups, like FreedomWorks, have proposed delaying the House GOP leadership elections until after lawmakers consider a spending package to keep the government open past December. That way, lawmakers could assess whether they approved of the way leadership handled what could potentially be a multi-billion dollar appropriations bill.

Such a move could also give conservatives more time to field an alternative Speaker candidate. 

“These congressmen are still bleary-eyed from the election,” FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon said. “Next thing you know, you’ve voted for a Speaker.” 

So far, though, a senior GOP aide said leadership hasn’t received a request from members to postpone the leadership elections.

Scott Wong contributed.