Looks Like Conservatives Won't Run A Candidate To Succeed Eric Cantor As House Majority Leader

Well GOP, you had a good 12 hours there but back to business as usual.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling will not run for House majority leader in next week's special election, according to sources familiar with his decision.

Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, who already has begun whipping votes to succeed outgoing Majority Leader Eric Cantor, now has a wide-open path to the No. 2 spot in House Republican leadership.

Tom Price also dropped out.

Jim Jordan seems to be the last opportunity for the conservatives to field a candidate for the post.

So the lesson learned from Cantor's defeat is that the guy whose whip operation repeatedly failed and led to Democrats having a deciding say in important legislation should get promoted. I'm sure McCarthy will do a better job whipping votes for his own career than he did for conservative priorities. Gotta take care of the important stuff you know.

Oh and he's publicly more pro-amnesty than Cantor was.

It's a problem that the House is still filled with moderates and not conservatives that this is what the congressional leadership team looks like. Still a lot of work to do and scalps to collect.

The conservative consolation prize appears to be that Steve Scalise of Louisiana, current head of the Republican Study Committee (the House's top conservative group or at least it was) will run for Whip against the more moderate Peter Roskam of Illinois.

Added: Scalise has competition from his right. So the conservative vote gets split and the moderate wins?

Someone from a red state in the House GOP leadership? What a thought. Of course, that assumes Scalise wins. This is the GOP we're talking about after all.

It's disappointing that neither Hensarling or another conservative isn't stepping up to challenge McCarthy. Politicians love to talk about how they are "fighters" and "leaders" and yet when the opportunity comes up to fight and lead, not a single one of them answers the bell.

Next time one of these faux "fighters" and "leaders" tells you that you have to step up and support them with your volunteer efforts, money and votes, tell them you have other priorities that are more important but that you wish them luck. Judging by the lack of conservatives willing to do something about moderates running the place, that's a perfectly acceptable response.

posted by DrewM. at 11:34 AM

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