Congressman Hern could be an unlikely choice for speaker

The campaign to become the next speaker of the House is shaping up to be a two-way race between Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan of Ohio, each of whom has already racked up dozens of endorsements.

But their supporters probably shouldn’t say that to the third potential candidate, Kevin Hern.

“My entire life I’ve been told I couldn’t do something, so it’s been my mission in life to prove people wrong,” Hern told Roll Call in a 2021 interview.

That chip on his shoulder, the size of his adopted home of Oklahoma, came from growing up in poverty and being told he’d never make it out. He proved his naysayers wrong, building a smallbusiness empire centered on the golden arches of more than 20 McDonald’s franchises and then following his political ambitions to become the “McCongressman,” a nickname he’s embraced.

So far, Hern has yet to call himself an official candidate for the speakership, coyly saying instead that he’s merely considering a run. But he joined Scalise and Jordan in addressing Republicans from the Texas delegation Wednesday and the Western delegation Friday.

Hern is a relative newcomer to Congress, only in his third term (whereas Scalise and Jordan are both in their ninth). But if he does enter the race, he’ll do so with the confidence of a self-made millionaire who has found fast success in the political world. Hern has risen up the Republican ranks quickly, becoming chair of its largest caucus, the Republican Study Committee.

With more than 170 members spanning the GOP’s ideological spectrum, from firebrands like Texas’ Chip Roy and Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Greene to swing-district moderates like Nebraska’s Don Bacon, the RSC provides Hern a considerable platform to launch a run for the speaker’s gavel. The leaders of other prominent GOP blocs are also members of the RSC, like South Dakota’s Dusty Johnson, who leads the Republican Main Street Caucus.