On Thursday, The Detroit News reported that retired Congressman Fred Upton (R-MI) is entertaining a plan to offer Democrats some degree of power sharing in the House in return for joining with a handful of GOP lawmakers to elect him Speaker of the House, in the event that Republicans fail to solve their gridlock in trying to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
According to the report, one possible offer Upton could make Democrats is an equal number of seats on House committees.
A gang of far-right Republicans has blocked McCarthy from the 218 votes he needs to be elected Speaker, leading to three failed ballots on Tuesday when the new Congress met for the first time — something that has not happened since 1923. These Republicans have demanded a number of changes to House rules that would give them more power over the caucus — which McCarthy has partially complied with, to no avail in reaching a deal with the holdouts.
So far, Democrats have been unanimous in nominating their own newly chosen House Leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). If all Democrats voted together on a compromise Upton candidacy, six Republicans would have to join them. Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) previously floated a bipartisan Upton candidacy as a possibility if McCarthy cannot secure the votes, but it is unclear whether five other Republicans would join him, or whether Democrats would be willing to accept the deal at all.
Upton, a longtime relative moderate Republican who retired at the end of last session, was one of ten House Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Only two of those lawmakers, Reps. David Valadao (R-CA) and Dan Newhouse (R-WA), are in office, as the others either retired or were defeated in their primary with Trump-backed challengers.
Trump himself is still backing McCarthy for Speaker. Last night, he appeared to step back from his endorsement, but reasserted it this morning with a post on his Truth Social platform.
