NY Gubernatorial Candidate Zeldin Emerges As Potential Speaker Challenger

Aaron Blake at the Washington Post has reported that New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep Lee Zeldin (R-NY) has emerged as a potential alternate candidate for Speaker of the House of Representatives, if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) fails to gather enough support before the January 3 House vote.

• Blake wrote: "One of the McCarthy holdouts, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) said yesterday that holdouts were zeroing in on a non-member for speaker. Looks like that could be Zeldin."
• Another GOP Rep ambivalent on McCarthy, Ben Cline (R-VA) said: "McCarthy has some challenges. We have to ask what's going to be different, and if it's not anything substantive, then why should we be voting for Speaker McCarthy?"
• Cline went on to say that the success of New York Republicans at the midterms underpins Zeldin's mandate to lead the GOP: "This is the Lee Zeldin majority. Because Zeldin has delivered these New York seats for Republicans in Biden districts."
• Zeldin challenged New York Gvernor Kathy Hochul (R-NY) at the midterm elections, losing by a relatively slight six-percentage-point margin.