Government & Politics

Rosendale voices concerns about House Republican leadership

By: Darrell Ehrlick - November 16, 2022 4:46 pm

Rep. Matt Rosendale in Townsend during Election Season 2022 (Photo via Matt Rosendale Twitter).

Rep. Matt Rosendale, a Republican serving Montana’s eastern and central Congressional district, criticized GOP leadership elected by fellow House members on Tuesday as the party teetered on the verge of gaining enough seats to control the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Republicans met to choose leadership, which included a vote to nominate Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California as the GOP nominee for Speaker of the House, should Republicans gain control.

However, before McCarthy’s place was secure, Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona mounted a challenge to McCarthy, who was seen as the presumptive nominee and leader. However, after last week’s election results in which Republicans failed to mount a decisive sweep of Congress, including not wresting control of the U.S. Senate from Democrats, Republicans in both chambers voiced opposition to the leadership of McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Rosendale issued the following statement:

“Each Member of Congress has earned and deserves equal participation in the legislative process. That will only happen if the House returns to the rules that governed this legislative body before Nancy Pelosi took control. Kevin McCarthy isn’t willing to make those changes; he wants to maintain the status quo, which consolidates power into his hands and a small group of individuals he personally selects. We need a leader who can stand up to a Democrat-controlled Senate and President Biden and unfortunately, that isn’t Kevin McCarthy. Montanans deserve better from Congress.”

McCarthy received 188 votes, making him the Republican Conference nominee, but he is currently 30 votes short of the required 218 to become Speaker.

Requests for comment from the Daily Montana to Rep.-elect Ryan Zinke of Montana’s western Congressional district went unanswered on Wednesday. Zinke is returning to Washington D.C., after most recently serving as the Secretary of the Interior during part of President Donald Trump’s administration. Prior to that, he was Montana’s Congressional representative at-large.

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Darrell Ehrlick

Darrell Ehrlick is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Montanan, after leading his native state’s largest paper, The Billings Gazette. He is an award-winning journalist, author, historian and teacher, whose career has taken him to North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Utah, and Wyoming.