Alabama Congressman Gary Palmer to run for U.S. House speaker

U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer of Alabama announced his bid Sunday to run for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Palmer is one of nine House Republicans who announced their candidacy for the position by a deadline on Sunday.

“The Republican majority must be willing to make the reforms necessary to ensure fiscal responsibility and restore people’s faith in their government– and in us as their elected representatives,” said the Palmer office in a statement on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

Palmer, currently in his fifth term, was first elected in 2014. Palmer was among the Republicans who voted to not certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Prior to Congress, Palmer led the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, for 24 years.

In his statement, Palmer spoke about the importance of conservative leadership and said that Americans are concerned about daily costs of living, fentanyl, children’s safety, national security and federal bankruptcy.

The United States has been without a Speaker of the House for over 19 days, which is the longest gap since 1962 when it took 55 days to elect a Speaker, according to NBC.

Palmer and Alabama’s five other Alabama Republicans voted last week to put U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, in the speaker’s chair. Jordan, an election denier, urged the Trump White House to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to nullify the election returns of some states in the lead-up to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, voted for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, along with her Democratic colleagues. 

The other Republican speaker candidates are Reps. Jack Bergman of Michigan; Byron Donalds of Florida; Tom Emmer of Minnesota; Kevin Hern of Oklahoma; Mike Johnson of Louisiana; Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, Austin Scott of Georgia and Pete Sessions of Texas. 

U.S. House Republicans plan to meet on Monday evening for a speaker candidate forum.