Updated | Texas Republican Bill Flores is stepping into the race to lead the House of Representatives, his office tells Newsweek.
Steve Fullheart, a reporter for KBTX News in College Station, Texas, first broke the news of Flores' announcement on Twitter.
BREAKING: @RepBillFlores has sent a letter to colleagues announcing his bid for House Speaker, per sources to me, @TexasTribune. @KBTXNews
— Steve Fullhart (@stevefullhart) October 12, 2015
Flores, 61, is a bread-and-butter conservative from one of the nation's reddest states who worked most of his life in accounting and oil and gas. He was spent into Congress in a tea party wave in 2010. Currently, Flores serves on the House's Energy and Commerce Committee. He is chair of the House Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus with 172 members, whose influence has been drained by the House Freedom Caucus, another conservative group, in recent years.
The House Freedom Caucus threw its support behind Daniel Webster last Wednesday.
After John Boehner announced he was stepping down, the Republican establishment fell in behind Kevin McCarthy. But, after McCarthy announced last week he would not run, the House was thrown into disarray. Paul Ryan, who ran for vice-president alongside Mitt Romney in 2012, has been the establishment pick, but Ryan has so far insisted he isn't running. If Ryan runs, Flores will step aside, his office says.
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Taylor is a general assignment reporter for Newsweek where he writes about U.S. politics, crime and courts, religion, marijuana law, ... Read more
