Local professor weighs in on house speaker fight

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — It's been 20 days since Kevin McCarthy was removed from his role as Speaker of the House.

To be elected as speaker, a nominee needs 217 votes. However, there are only 221 Republicans in the house. The House has voted several times to replace McCarthy, but he has not received enough votes.

"This is a fight between the extremely conservative republicans that got McCarthy out of office and the people who are resisting Jordan, the more moderate Republicans," said Kent Redfield, a Professor Emeritus in Political Science from the University of Illinois Springfield. "Now you've got a real gridlock."

McCarthy is the first person to be removed from the Speaker position through a vote of the full House. This unprecedented change means the House currently has a temporary speaker, but he doesn't have much power.

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Redfield says with the many global issues going on, such as the war in Ukraine or the conflict in the Middle East, this is not a good time for the House to be lacking a clear leader. While Congress can still pass legislation, it will take longer and have more issues.

"If, for instance, the President has an aid package he would get through the the Senate in some form, the House is basically paralyzed," said Redfield. "[The Speaker] is a critical actor in terms of the house moving on legislation, to house agreeing or not agreeing to take up legislation that comes from the Senate."

Another factor that makes the vote so important is that the Speaker is the third in line for succession to the presidency.

House Republicans have scheduled a closed door candidate forum for 5:30 PM CT. They are expected to vote tomorrow on who to nominate for the Speaker next.