On Sunday (Jan. 4), Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, announced his intention to challenge Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, for House Speaker.
“After the November elections gave Republicans control of the Senate, voters made clear they wanted change,” he said in a statement. There have been numerous examples of problematic Republican leadership, but we were hopeful our leaders got the voters’ message. However, after our Speaker forced through the CRomnibus [the spending bill] by passing it with Democratic votes and without time to read it, it seemed clear that we needed new leadership. There had been much discussion.”
Today (Jan. 6), the first day of the new Congress, the raucous Tea Party Republican lost to Boehner. A last minute challenger, Rep. Dan Webster, R-Florida, even received more votes than Gohmert, 12-3.
Five candidates were formally nominated, including Boehner, Tea Party Republican Reps. Ted Yoho and Dan Webster, both of Florida, and former Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-California.
Boehner was expected to easily be re-nominated despite the challenges from the right-wing of his party. He was elected by a slim margin in January 2013 after a failed attempt by a faction of his caucus. At least 12 Democrats were attending former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo’s funeral, Politico noted, while others did not show up at all. Every absent Democrat lowered the threshold for the Ohio Republican’s re-election.
Four Democrats also bucked their party’s leadership and voted for a candidate other than Pelosi.
The Washington Post has a full list of defectors on both sides of the aisle here.
If you’re an avid Dallas Voice reader, you probably know all about Gohmert; a search of our archives alone yields 22 mentions. He’s well-known for his conspiracy theories and opposition to LGBT legislation. He called ENDA “a continuation of the Obama administration’s ‘war on religion.'” He was among the first inductees in HRC’s Hall of Shame last year and is a frequent recipient of the Advocate’s Phobie Awards.
Openly bisexual Rep. Krysten Sinema, D-Arizona, and one of the four Democrats to not vote for Pelosi, spoke for all of us when she did this:
