Who Is Austin Scott? Maybe the Next Speaker of the House!
Well, probably not. But the obscure Georgia representative’s challenge to Jim Jordan shows we’re already running low on viable candidates for Speaker.
It’s been nine days since a faction of Republicans pushed Kevin McCarthy out of the Speakership for the crime of working with Democrats to avoid a government shutdown, and we’re already running dangerously low on candidates for the worst job in American politics.
A majority of House Republicans nominated Majority Leader Steve Scalise as their candidate at an internal meeting on Wednesday, but he bowed out on Thursday night once it became clear that there were enough GOP holdouts to keep him from winning the 217 votes needed to win the vote before the full House. That seemed to leave Representative Jim Jordan as the only viable option as Republicans headed into another vote on Friday afternoon.
Then a new contender unexpectedly threw his hat into the ring shortly before the vote: Representative Austin Scott of Georgia.
I have filed to be Speaker of the House. We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people.
— Rep. Austin Scott (@AustinScottGA08) October 13, 2023
If you’re wondering “Who the heck is that?” you are not alone. Even members of Congress are asking the same question:
One House Democrat texts me: “We are busily googling Austin Scott right now…”
— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) October 13, 2023
Here’s what you’ll learn from some light Googling: Scott has been in the House for 12 years, he urged fellow Republicans not to object to the Electoral College results after the 2020 election, and his Wikipedia page is a bit skimpy for a guy seeking to lead the House.
The most relevant facts about Austin at the moment are that he’s not a fan of Jordan or the GOP rebels who ousted McCarthy, as Roll Call reports:
Scott, who is in his seventh term, criticized the eight Republicans who voted with all House Democrats to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the office last week as “nothing more than grifters who have handed control of the House to the Democratic Party in the name of their own glory and fundraising.”
Scott, an Armed Services panel member, has said he would vote against Jordan if the Ohioan ran for speaker.
Also, he thinks Republicans look like a “bunch of idiots” right now:
Rep. Austin Scott on the GOP's inability to elect a Speaker: “There are people in there who like to go on the TV and are not necessarily negotiating for anything other than TV time...It makes us look like a bunch of idiots.” pic.twitter.com/ZX4rE8VJr7
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) October 13, 2023
Oh, and he doesn’t actually want the job. “I don’t necessarily want to be Speaker of the House, I want a house that functions correctly,” he told reporters on Friday morning. “The House is not functioning correctly right now.”
So why is he running? Politico reports that the point of his candidacy may be to give anti-Jordan members someone to vote for:
Scott’s entry is viewed more as a move designed to pull over Jordan critics and give the House GOP conference another choice. … But one House Republican, speaking on condition of anonymity, predicted that whoever votes for Austin on Friday “will be a slightly overstated proxy for the Never Jordan people.”
“Others are keeping their powder dry until Jordan realizes he has no path to 217,” the Republican added.
It seems the House floor vote can’t happen this weekend anyway, as there are so many GOP absences that Democrats could elect Hakeem Jeffries as Speaker. One member suggested this was part of an anti-Jordan conspiracy:
There are at least 10 Republican Members of Congress absent from Washington today, keeping the Republican conference from taking the formal vote to elect a Speaker.
— Rep. Keith Self (@RepKeithSelf) October 13, 2023
Their absence guarantees that we will not have a vote this weekend on Jim Jordan.
Is this a mere coincidence?
If Jordan can’t get to 217, which appears to be the case, Austin may be joined by other challengers in the coming days, such as Representative Kevin Hern, Mike Johnson, or some other person most Americans have never heard of. The Speaker doesn’t even have to be a member of the House, so who knows? This could turn into a Time Person of the Year 2006 situation.