House Freedom Caucus member: What about Bishop for Speaker?

Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, floated Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) as a potential successor to outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), who announced he is resiging at the end of October.

{mosads}Labrador said that while the conservative caucus has already endorsed Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) to replace Boehner, there are still active conversations about who will ultimately become leader of the House.

“All the focus is on [Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)],” Labrador said on CNN’s “State of the Union. “I don’t know if he wants to do the job, but we have other people in the conference that I think could actually bring the caucus together.”

“Rob Bishop, there’s people like that [who] can help us come together as a conference,” Labrador continued.

Labrador said that should Ryan decide to run, the House Freedom Caucus would ask that Ryan speak to them about his candidacy. The conservative caucus has been a thorn in the side of establishment Republicans like Boehner, criticizing his style of leadership and questioning his conservative policy chops.

“We have endorsed Daniel Webster and until someone is a declared candidate we’re not going to move to a new candidate,” Labrador said. “Now if new candidates declare themselves, we’re going to ask them to come talk to the House Freedom Caucus.”

“It’s not about the who; it’s about the what. What are we going to do in the House to change the culture, what are we going to do so we can get [the conference] together on the same page?” Labrador said.

“We should be fighting the Democrats, not the Republicans,” he said. “We shouldn’t be fighting each other.”