Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, told Newsmax a deal aimed at ending the House Speaker stalemate was presented to the GOP conference, but he's uncertain how many of the 20 Republican House lawmakers who are blocking Rep. Kevin McCarthy's bid for the post will be swayed.
Davidson, who backs McCarthy, made his comments Friday on "Wake Up America."
"There is a deal," Davidson said. "They started socializing that with the conference last night. But we don't know for sure how many people are moving out of the 20 that have been opposed to Kevin. The outline of the deal has some things that, frankly, everybody likes, and it has some things that are creating a lot of heartburn.
"So, when you look at the tension that has been created — people that trust one another, people who don't, the conflict that's there that's kind of the way people start dehumanizing one another once they get involved in conflict — there's a lot of collateral damage.
"I do hope we come together today and we elect Kevin McCarthy as the next speaker of the House, and I do think that the dialogue is potentially going to produce a much better way to govern the conference. And if we can heal those wounds in the collateral damage, I think we're going to be a more united conference."
Davidson predicted there will be at least a 12th round of voting on Friday and raised the possibility House members might have to reconvene this weekend to vote.
"It may come to a point where Kevin doesn't have the votes, but right now people are digging in even harder to say: 'We're not going to let 9% dictate the terms to 91%,'" Davidson said.
And he noted: "There looks like there's real progress."
However, Davidson cautioned: "If somehow that falls apart, at some point, we do have to elect a speaker of the house."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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