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You are here: Home / House of Representatives / Empowering Patrick McHenry Isn’t So Easy

Empowering Patrick McHenry Isn’t So Easy

October 19, 2023 at 6:14 am EDT By Taegan Goddard Leave a Comment

Playbook: “For one, McHenry himself has pooh-poohed the idea. The North Carolina Republican — who seems less than thrilled to be in his current position — has made clear that he thinks he only has power to oversee a new speakership election. Could that change? Sure. But for an effort to be successful, McHenry himself would likely need to be onboard.”

“An even bigger challenge: On a practical level, many Republicans are opposed. Sure, the world is on fire. Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel and Israel’s response has left the Middle East reeling, Ukraine is still struggling to hold the line against Russia, and here at home, Uncle Sam runs out of money in less than a month. But the truth is that most Republicans don’t yet feel pressured enough to set aside their own personal ambitions to get back to governing.”

“In fact, yesterday Jordan’s inner circle appeared to try to use this idea of empowering McHenry to boost Jordan’s own candidacy, accusing those flirting with the idea of trying to turn the majority over to Democrats.”

Key takeaway: “Democrats aren’t going to bail out Republicans for free. And it’s unclear exactly what concessions they’d want in exchange for elevating McHenry.”

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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