House Republicans need time to find the right person to replace former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., told Newsmax on Wednesday.
McCarthy on Tuesday became the first speaker removed from his position when eight House conservatives voted with all Democrats to pass Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz's "motion to vacate."
Reuters reported that multiple Republicans said they planned to meet Oct. 10 to discuss possible McCarthy successors, with a vote on a new speaker planned for Oct. 11.
"I think a lot of us were surprised by this and I think even those who filed the motion and voted for it, I think we're all surprised," Valadao said of the timeline on Wednesday's "Wake Up America." "You could see it in the room.
"I would be fine with sticking around. I think most members would. But in reality, I mean, you are talking about a very important position, and they want to give everyone the opportunity to campaign for it so that we have the ability to elect who's best for the job."
Valadao, whose district borders McCarthy's in central California, said he was "very disappointed" with his Republican colleague's removal from the speakership. He added that he hopes the next speaker gets elected with one House vote.
"I would hope that it's a one-and-done deal. We've gotta be able to vote for someone," Valadao told co-hosts Rob Finnerty and Alison Maloni. "But I know there are a lot of members who want to start looking at some of the rules and making sure that we make these rules work so that we're not playing these types of games and allow basically eight members of Congress on the Republican side to work with the entire Democrat Party to take out our speaker."
Asked who he planned to back for speaker, Valadao said he was "not going to take a position on it."
"I'm still a little bit, uh, burnt by what happened last night," he said, "and so, I want to wait as long as I possibly can to make that decision.
"Obviously, it's an important job and someone who's gonna take, uh, I mean, they've got to take the job serious, and you've got to have something that role that understands the importance of one, getting conservative policies path but also being able to hold the majority so that we're in a position where we can actually pass those conservative policies."
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