House Republican leadership is deliberately refraining from forcing out scandal-plagued Rep. Tony Gonzalez (R-TX), hoping instead that primary voters in his district will do their dirty work for them with a primary loss, sparing them losing his seat in the general election.
Gonzalez has resisted calls to resign despite facing accusations that his sexual harassment of staffer Regina Santos-Aviles drove her to suicide. Republicans have largely remained silent, primarily because their razor-thin House majority cannot afford to lose a single member.
Instead of pushing him out, party leaders are betting that Gonzalez will lose his primary race, allowing them to retain his vote until a Republican successor can presumably hold the seat in November.
According to Politico, neither President Donald Trump nor Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) have withdrawn their endorsements of Gonzalez, which were issued months earlier. However, a growing number of House Republicans are privately pinning their hopes that he loses the primary, according to interviews with more than a dozen lawmakers and aides granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.
Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-FL) openly expressed the sentiment, stating, "Should he lose the primary, which a lot of us expect him to do, he'll probably just serve out his term. People still deserve to have a congressman doing the constituent work, et cetera."
Haridopolos, like other House Republicans, characterized the allegations against Gonzalez as "very serious, to say the least," adding: "I think the voters in Texas are going to speak pretty loudly. And I would guess that his days are numbered in Congress."
The situation has created enormous complications for Speaker Johnson, who is already managing a precarious majority. Assembling sufficient Republican votes to advance legislation requires near-perfect party discipline. The GOP can afford no more than one defection on party-line votes when all members are present, making controversial legislation a constant political tightrope.
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