3 Things You Should Know About the House Majority Whip Candidates
While Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy seems to have the race to replace Eric Cantor as House Majority Leader all sewn up, the competition to take McCarthy's position as Majority Whip is just heating up. The three-way contest between Rep. Pete Roskam, Rep. Marlin Stutzman and Rep. Steve Scalise is full of intrigue two days before voting. Roskam, an Illinois Republican, is claiming he will have the votes needed to secure the position  117, assuming every House Republican casts a vote. No one candidate is expected to garner a majority in the first round of voting in the secret ballot, and rumors abound that Tea Partier Stutzman may throw his second-round support behind establishment Republican Roskam in order to help Texas conservative Jeb Hensarling in January. Stutzman, who is expected to garner the least number of votes in the first round, would then be dropped from a second round, his endorsement potentially making him a kingmaker for Roskam or Scalise  the latter of whom also claims he has the votes for the job. Why, you may ask, would Tea Partier Stutzman help establishment Roskam? If Roskam wins, the top four slots in House Republican leadership would hail from blue or purple states with no Tea Party representation. That could potentially bolster Hensarling's Tea Party candidacy for House Speaker in the next Congress, as he could argue their arm of the party has no representation. So, Stutzman would deprive Scalise and his own wing of the party now in the hopes of helping Hensarling down the road. Welcome to House conference jockeying, where everyone thinks five votes and two steps ahead. Francis Underwood, the fictional House Majority Whip on Netflix's House of Cards, would be proud. The House Majority candidates all have interesting personalities, particularly Stutzman and Scalise, who hail from the Tea Party wing of the GOP. Here are three things you should know about the next chief GOP House vote counter, Rep. Pete Roskam, Illinois, Rep. Steve Scalise, Lousiana, Rep. Marlin Stutzman, Indiana