Gowdy!, Gowdy!, Gowdy!

“Chatter grows that Ryan could step down”

Four House Republicans, including a senior lawmaker close to leadership, told The Hill they expect Ryan to step down after Tuesday’s elections, arguing that he faces a daunting path to the 218 votes he needs to win a full two-year term leading the House GOP.

[…]

Ryan’s top three lieutenants — McCarthy, Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) — all would be flawed candidates. McCarthy quit the Speaker’s race last year after failing to nail down 218 votes. Scalise gave a speech to a white supremacist group with ties to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, a controversy that would be resurface if Scalise ran for Speaker.

And McMorris Rodgers, the highest-ranking GOP woman in Congress, failed to get much traction last year in her bid for majority leader, the No. 2 post. She dropped out of her race against Scalise and Budget Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.).

[…]

Other names being tossed around include Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the enormously popular chairman of the special committee that investigated the Benghazi attacks; Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), who leads the special panel investigating Planned Parenthood; and Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), a former member of leadership.”

Read the rest at The Hill