Republican John Boehner was elected to a third term as U.S. House Speaker, despite more than two dozen GOP lawmakers who voted against him.
After a lengthy roll call vote, the Ohio Republican earned 216 votes, more than enough to put him in the majority. Boehner needed only 205 votes, lower than the usual 218 votes, because of a missing bloc of Democratic lawmakers who were in New York attending the funeral of former Gov. Mario Cuomo.
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In total, 24 Republicans voted against Boehner, with a dozen votes for Rep. Daniel Webster of Florida and a few others going to Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas, Ted Yoho of Florida and Jim Jordan of Ohio, and even Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.
Boehner’s victory came despite a growing coup by House conservatives, who have grown weary of the GOP leadership’s legislative tactics on spending and immigration reform.
Three GOP lawmakers announced they were running against Boehner: Gohmert, Yoho and Webster, a former state house speaker.
While the vote was not close, the attempted coup shows a growing discontent against the GOP leadership. Two years ago, a planned attempt to unseat Boehner fell apart at the last minute when lawmakers fearing repercussions backed down. At that time, twelve Republicans voted against Boehner.
This time, more Republicans were willing put their names on record in opposition to Boehner, who has also been lambasted by Tea Party groups and conservative talk show hosts who accuse him of abandoning conservative principles.
The 24 votes against him would have been just five shy of unseating Boehner if the full House had been present.
Conservatives said they want a leadership change because in the past Congress, House Republican leaders rushed expensive and controversial legislation in manner that denied full consideration. They pointed to the $1.1 trillion federal spending bill passed in December and the March 2014 Medicare “doc fix” legislation, which the House passed by voice vote over the objections of some conservatives, who say they were not forewarned by leadership that they planned to quickly pass the bill.
“My message is, we need a new process, the process is broken,” Rep. Tom Massie, R-Ky., who voted for Yoho, said.
Democrat Nancy Pelosi received 164 votes.
