Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., told Newsmax Wednesday that House Republicans “need to move forward” with Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., as their speaker because current events demand that the United States has a functioning government.
“I thought [former House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy did a great job, and he shouldn’t have been taken out in the way that he was, but it’s a new chapter, and we need to move forward and we need to do it quickly because there is a lot at stake for our country right now,” Tenney said during an appearance on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.”
Republicans picked Johnson as their latest House speaker nominee Tuesday night just hours after Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., bowed out of the race in the face of opposition from former President Donald Trump.
When asked about the optics of the House GOP’s failure to elect a new speaker after McCarthy’s ouster from the position three weeks ago, Tenney said, “There’s been more made of this than it is” by the media.
“I think that when it all gets broken down, I think you’re going to see that there are factions in this party that were hurting each other and people are going to know the truth when it comes out eventually,” she said. “This was a huge eye-opener — the last three weeks — for me, especially the last week, when I saw what was really going on, and I think that’s why I feel so confident about the future. This is how, as Mike put it, democracy works.”
Host Rob Finnerty told Tenney that with the world “on the precipice of World War III” and the third position in line for the U.S. presidency not filled, “this is not just us turning this into a story.”
“We’re here today and a lot was sorted out in these last three weeks, which I think is good for us and good for America because we got to see what’s really going on in our structure, in what’s happening,” Tenney said. “As we lead the House with a very narrow majority, I think Mike is going to take us into the future. Also, we can get fixated on things like this, where some parts of the media look for shiny objects.
"Some members in our conference try to be that shiny object. I think you’re going to get a person who is looking at serious work [and] understanding the gravity of the situation in America and around the world.”
The New York congresswoman said she’s known Johnson since “the 115th Congress” when they “came in together” as freshman lawmakers.
“He’s an extremely hard worker,” Tenney said. “He’s not a guy who’s always seeking the limelight and jumping to the cameras, and he really is a serious conservative and a serious legislator. Really capable, really competent, and I am really excited about a new chapter in the Republican Party with a true leader who is going to … bring us back from what we’ve been going through in the last three weeks.”
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