GOPer Explains His Choice for 'Terrible' House Speaker Job

Republican Rep. Ken Buck's choice for House speaker on Tuesday was a person he doesn't want to be speaker, which, in the words of CNN's Dana Bash, "says a lot about where we are right now." Sitting down with Bash after Tuesday's speaker vote, the Colorado Republican said he refused to vote for Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who appears to be the current frontrunner in the race to fill the speaker chair that's now been vacant for two weeks, and chose GOP Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota instead. "Question is, do you really want Tom Emmer to be speaker?" Bash asked Buck. "No, I don't," Buck responded. "I don't like Tom Emmer." Buck—who had smirked during the exchange, per the Daily Beast—later claimed that dig "was a joke."

"The office of Speaker is the hardest job in Washington. I wouldn't wish that on my good friend @GOPMajorityWhip," he wrote on X, per Mediaite. Buck also told Bash that the role of speaker is a "terrible job." "So just to underscore that, you voted for somebody because you don't like them?" Bash questioned. "I voted for somebody 'cause I wasn't going to vote for Jim Jordan," Buck replied. He's cited Jordan's lack of support for further military funding for Ukraine, "the inability to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the election, and the activities surrounding Jan. 6," per Colorado Public Radio. Another round of voting is expected Wednesday morning. "We're going to find somebody to agree to and move forward, even if it's for a temporary basis," Buck told Bash. (More speaker of the House stories.)