Has the GOP speaker's race gone from firing squad to royal rumble?

Insanity, it's famously said, is the act of doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results each time. Glib as it may be, that quote has rung particularly true over the course of the past few weeks, as Republican lawmakers scramble once again to fill the speaker's seat it took 15 ballots for now-ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to secure in the first place. With legislation at a standstill, Democrats have stood resolute behind Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) as their pick for speaker. Republicans, meanwhile, have been unable to coalesce behind several of their highest-profile lawmakers who have each embarked on a series of increasingly haphazard bids for the speaker's gavel. 

Now, after several weeks of a disorderly, but fairly linear process in which a single GOP lawmaker at a time tries — to date, unsuccessfully — to secure the support of 217 of their colleagues, the field has burst wide open. Currently, at least nine Republican representatives have declared their intent to run for speaker, starting with a GOP candidate forum on Monday evening where the roster of hopefuls — a mix of fresh faces and longtime climbers within the party — will make their respective cases to their colleagues.

But with the field now split nine ways ahead of an expected floor vote on Tuesday, is this newly expanded class of aspirants a sign of strength for the GOP, or another mark of dysfunction within a party that's struggled to unify all term?

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What the commentators said

In spite of his hopes that "everyone would come together, put the country before the politics, and actually solve this," the fact that the House has reached this point of infighting and ineffectiveness is "embarrassing for the Republican Party" and "embarrassing for the nation" former Speaker McCarthy told NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday.

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The fact that there are so many candidates jostling for the position at once presents "a new set of challenges" for the GOP, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing "fractures, coupled with a very narrow 221-212 majority" that contributes to "groups of holdouts who may decline to back their nominee on the House floor." It's a challenge akin to "drinking from a fire hose," Rep. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.) told the paper, as candidates begin "reaching out and jostling for support."

The dynamics of a nine-person race means that a "candidate who could become a weak speaker with no national name recognition" has a legitimate, if narrow path to victory, simply by virtue of attracting "the least rancor from across the divided conference," according to CNN's Stephen Collinson. Perhaps a lesser-known name from within this group might "change the calculations of the extremists who opposed McCarthy and Scalise and the more moderate battleground district members who doomed the bulldozing Jordan." As The New York Times noted, none of the current batch of candidates has "the kind of commanding national profile normally required of the speaker" — including being "a key fund-raiser for their party’s efforts to protect and expand its majority." Punchbowl News was more blunt in its assertion that "we have nine candidates — some of them backbenchers."

What next? 

In an effort to avoid the sort of public dysfunction that has characterized the intra-GOP speakers battle so far, Rep. Mike Flood (R-Neb.) has pushed for Republicans to sign a "unity pledge" to support whomever the party chooses as its final nominee "regardless of who that candidate is — when their election proceeds to the House Floor." Many in the Republican caucus are "getting to the point now where the rank and file, the ones that are always on the team, are sick of it," Flood told The Washington Times. "We’re sick of being tossed around like pinballs in this whole situation," Flood continued. "Then watch us vote ‘present.’" At least six of the nine candidates have signed Flood's pledge, NPR reported. 

Democrats, meanwhile, seem in no rush to help their colleagues across the aisle, since "this type of dysfunction and chaos among Republicans will benefit Democrats" party strategist Brad Woodhouse told Roll Call. Ultimately, "House Republicans are at their last gasp this week," Punchbowl concluded. If no speaker comes out of this round of votes, some members will "seek Democratic backing to break the stalemate."