When Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) shocked Democrats and Republicans by taking himself out of contention for the House Speaker job, there was no one to fill the void.
What if Eric Cantor (R-Va.), former House Majority Leader, took the Speaker Of The House job? There is nothing that prevents him from doing so, because the Speaker does not have to be a sitting member of Congress. Who knew?
In fact, Cantor would already be the Speaker if he hadn’t lost his Virginia primary race to Tea Party conservative, David Brat. Cantor was next in line to follow John Boehner (R-Ohio) when his loss stunned Republicans and Democrats alike.
Paul Ryan has higher aspirations than the Speaker Of House job, like vice-president or president. Boehner is desperate to leave, so he has been trying to break Ryan’s arm. How many times does Ryan have to say “no” before the Republicans look at Cantor?
Cantor represented the 7th District of Virginia from 2001 to 2014. He is currently Vice Chair and Managing Director of Moelis & Company. Cantor’s company is a top independent investment bank operating globally with clients ranging from corporations to governments to financial sponsors. While in office, Cantor said:
“Look, we know we screwed up when we were in the majority. We fell in love with power. We spent way too much money – especially on earmarks. There was too much corruption when we ran this place. We were guilty. And that’s why we lost [presidential election].”
Cantor is well-equipped to bridge the chasm between more traditional Republicans in the House and the far-right 40 – give or take. He votes YES on health coverage banning abortion, making it a crime to harm a fetus, and banning Family Planning funding. He voted NO on embryonic stem cell research. Clearly, if he took the “it” job of the century, he would be better experienced than any other contenders and more than most. He has a long political record:
“The issue for us is rebuilding a governing majority that is comfortable with differences that can transcend the divisiveness and unify behind the principles that we know our party has succeeded on.”
On a positive note, the pay for having Cantor as Speaker of the House would be significantly less than if he was still a sitting representative.
