Republicans shouldn’t drop Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) months after he helped them secure their largest majority since 1928, Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said on Tuesday.
{mosads}”I don’t know how you can look at a party that has taken over the largest majority now for Republicans in the House of Representatives in, what, 86 years and somehow think that’s a bad thing and a result of bad leadership, and you should throw out the guy who helped engineer some of that,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“I fully support Speaker Boehner for all the reasons I just stated, that we’ve had tremendous success. I don’t think you can somehow isolate him away from that success; I think we have to give him a good deal of the credit.”
Cramer also praised Boehner as calm and level-headed during difficult votes.
“One of the things I appreciate about John Boehner is that he doesn’t panic in getting to 218 votes to get a majority,” he said. “He always maintains his cheerful demeanor and a stable demeanor. And I think this is a place that needs some stability.”
The two-term Speaker is facing opposition from conservative members who think he hasn’t done enough to stop President Obama’s executive action on immigration and support other conservative causes.
At least 11 Republicans have pledged to oppose Boehner. Reps. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) and Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) are officially running against him.
Boehner’s allies have called the move “unprofessional,” since both members could have opposed the sitting Speaker in the internal conference elections late last year but did not.