Magaziner weighs in on continuing House Speaker race

PROVIDENCE, R.I.  (WLNE) — Another record setting race for the speaker of the house, as Ohio Republican Jim Jordan fails his third vote for the position.

House Republicans held a secret ballot early Friday, removing Jordan as their candidate, leaving the House without a leader for the third week straight.

It’s back to the drawing board in the House of Representatives as both Jordan and Steve Scalise have now failed to win enough votes for the speakership. 

Something Rhode Island representative Seth Magaziner says couldn’t come at a worse time.

“Because we have important work we need to do, we’ve got to keep the government open, we have to support our allies in Ukraine and Israel, we have to get humanitarian aid to Gaza,” Magaziner said. “There’s important work that needs to be done.”

The U.S. government has until mid-November to avoid a government shutdown, and Magaziner said Democrats are ready to move forward, but they need Republicans to meet them in the middle.

“The Republicans have shown over the last three and a half weeks that they’re not able to elect a speaker on their own,” he said. “And so, this is a time when we should now work together across the aisle in a bipartisan way, which by the way is what most Rhode Islanders who I talk to want.”

After the previous speaker election with Rep. Kevin McCarthy took 15 separate votes, and Magaziner says at this point it’s frustrating.

“And I can tell on the Republican side my colleagues there are becoming increasingly, I think embarrassed, at their inability to do what every majority party has done in the history of our country and put forward a candidate for speaker they can all agree on,” he said.

A vote is expected Tuesday.