Nevada’s sole GOP congressman frustrated by House speaker stalemate

Nevada’s sole Republican congressman, Rep. Mark Amodei, expressed frustrations Thursday afternoon with the House GOP’s paralysis in selecting a new speaker.

“I don’t want to panic, but we need to have a speaker so the House can be operating and taking care of business,” he said in a phone interview Thursday. “This is not a good time to be shut down because we can’t get 217 votes for a speaker.”

The U.S. House of Representatives has been in a gridlock for two and a half weeks since it voted to remove Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy — while appropriations bills to fund the government wait to be approved, and members of Congress push for funding packages for Israel.

Speaker candidates have been unable to secure the necessary votes to take the gavel as Republicans struggle to unite around a candidate. House Republicans on Thursday went into about a three-hour listening session, where Amodei said they formed a “conga line” at the microphones to “gripe” and share their thoughts.

He said he spoke in support of empowering Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry, R-North Carolina, as a temporary speaker in order to give Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a chance to keep working folks for more votes. Jordan, the Judiciary Committee chairman and founder of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, has fallen short of the 217 votes needed in two separate ballots this week.

Thursday’s session ended with no resolution that will be brought to the floor by Republicans, Amodei said. The next House speaker vote is expected at 7 a.m. PT Friday.

Prioritizing keeping Congress operational, Amodei has voted in line with the majority of his party. He voted to keep McCarthy as speaker, and once he was ousted, Amodei supported Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana. When Scalise forfeited after Republican opposition, Amodei voted twice for Jordan.

Amodei said he has received some criticism for his support for Jordan, who voted to decertify the 2020 election.

“I try not to be a one-issue person on something like this,” said Amodei, who voted to certify the election results. “Even though I don’t agree with him on 100 percent of his stuff, I agree with him on quite a bit.”

“I have to try to get along with whoever the speaker is,” Amodei said.

Contact Jessica Hill at jehill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @jess_hillyeah on X.