Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) said that he won’t vote for Jim Jordan (R-OH) or Steve Scalise (R-LA) to be the next Speaker of the House because both refused to say that Biden won in 2020.
Buck told reporters:
Ken Buck (R-Col) told me he wouldn’t vote for either Jordan or Scalise because they dodged his question about who won in 2020.
“Is we don’t have the moral clarity to decide whether President Biden won or not, we don’t have the moral clarity to rule in this country, period.â€
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— Arthur Delaney 🇺🇸 (@ArthurDelaneyHP) October 11, 2023
Rep. Buck was right. It is a low bar to ask the second in line to assume the presidency to accept the legitimacy of a democratic election. Still, if Scalise and Jordan refuse to do so, neither of them is fit to be Speaker.
House Republicans are so dysfunctional that they had to rewrite their election rules on election day with no sign that Jordan or Scalise will get enough votes (217) from the Republican conference to move to the floor for a vote by the full House to pick the next Speaker.
The refusal of the leading candidates in the Republican majority to support democracy is disqualifying, and it would be nice if there were 5 or 10 more House Republicans who felt the same way.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
