House Speaker John Boehner announced that he would remain as Speaker of the House until a replacement was elected, after House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy suddenly dropped out of the race to replace him.
Boehner canceled his scheduled appearance tonight with Jimmy Fallon on the Tonight Show after the planned Republican nomination was disrupted by McCarthy’s sudden exit.
“As I have said previously, I will serve as Speaker until the House votes to elect a new Speaker,” Boehner said in a statement.
That’s different from his statement in September, when he announced that he would resign the following month.
“[P]rolonged leadership turmoil would do irreparable damage to the institution, to that end, I will resign the Speakership and my seat in Congress on October 30,” he said in his statement on September 25.
On Capitol Hill, Boehner allies openly admitted that it would be difficult for any candidate to reach the necessary votes required to succeed Boehner.
In his statemetn today, Boehner vowed to schedule a new date for the speaker election, but did not indicate when that would be.
“I’m confident we will elect a new Speaker in the coming weeks,” he said.