Moderate Republican Doubles Down on Threat to Work With Democrats to Elect a House Speaker if GOP Rebels Tank McCarthy

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Nebraska Republican Rep. Don Bacon published an op-ed in the right-wing Daily Caller on Monday explaining why he is willing to work with Democrats in the event the five GOP rebels attempting to block Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from becoming House speaker refuse to budge.

“I support Kevin McCarthy, but a small handful of people are holding us hostage,” Bacon writes to kick off the op-ed, which also has a “counter point” column published on the website.

“The vast majority of the conference knows we can’t cave to the few when the demands are unreasonable. The immediate gridlock by this handful threatens the entire GOP, the House and will delay the operations of the 118th Congress,” Bacon adds, referring to demands that include passing a rule allowing any single member to call for a vote of no confidence in the speaker.

Bacon goes on to cite his history as a “retired brigadier general who served nearly 30 years in the Air Force” to explain his stance:

I know how important it is to rally the team behind a common goal. Teams can’t make perfection the enemy of good.

Bacon, who won reelection in a district carried by Joe Biden in 2020, goes on to explain that McCarthy has the support of the GOP conference, regardless of his imperfections.

“When Conference voted, 85% stood beside McCarthy and declared they wanted him as the next speaker. Now that number stands around 95%,” he writes, adding:

Much has been made of me saying I would work with moderate Democrats to elect a more moderate speaker. But my actual words were that if the five refused to coalesce around what the vast majority of the conference wants, I’m willing to work across the aisle to find an agreeable Republican.

We cannot be held captive by a small number and run the risk of delaying the formation of committees and working on the agenda we promised Americans this past November.

The five GOP members Bacon refers to are Reps. Andy Biggs, Bob Good, Matt Rosendale, Ralph Norman, and Matt Gaetz.

“We should not set a bad precedent and allow a few people to undercut the entire team of 222 members. Further, of the 16 new Republicans elected, 13 are affiliated with the Mainstreet GOP. It was the governing conservatives who got us the majority,” Bacon continues, highlighting the moderate members of the House GOP.

“The real complaint here should be with the small faction who refuse to work with the rest of the conference. They are putting our majority in the House at risk,” Bacon adds, concluding:

My point is that if a few won’t be part of the 218 members we need to govern, we’ll then find other ways to get to 218!