HARLINGEN — On Tuesday, U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez was set to take the oath of office as congressional District 34’s new representative.
But Republicans continue to wrangle over their selection of the U.S. House of Representative’s next speaker, leaving his new office in limbo.
“It’s a circus — without a doubt. It’s such a disgrace to the country,” Gonzalez said. “It’s crazier than ever. Republicans are divided.”
After days of debate, Gonzalez believes Republicans don’t have a “viable candidate.”
“In 1884, it took them four months,” he said, referring to the historic struggle to elect a speaker. “Hopefully, that doesn’t happen here.”
Counting on Democrat votes
Meanwhile, former House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy needs Democrats’ help to become the next speaker.
“They don’t have a candidate who’s viable who could turn the caucus around,” Gonzalez said during an interview. “I don’t think McCarthy will ever have the votes without Dems helping. The only option he has is getting 15 or 20 Dems to get him in there.”
Gonzalez said he’s concerned McCarthy doesn’t have the negotiating talents for the job.
“What’s caused this is that (McCarthy’s) not very bright to begin with,” he said. “He’s a horrible negotiator. He committed to a laundry list of demands and really gave them the store without a guarantee that they were going to vote for him. I mean, just as a lawyer and a negotiator, I would have never done that without assurance that if I’m giving something up, I’m getting something in return. I would have expected that from somebody who wants to be the speaker of the House. Clearly if he, at the end of the day, gets selected by his party, he will be the weakest speaker of the House in American history.”
‘Congressional purgatory’
These days, when people call District 34 offices, they’re confused.
“The house is at a standstill,” James Rivera, Gonzalez’s press secretary, said. “We want to get started. We want to get to work. But he hasn’t been sworn into the 34th. So we can’t take on the new case work. We can’t start the session without a speaker. Without a speaker, (Gonzalez) can’t be sworn in. We’re in congressional purgatory.”
While Gonzalez, who switched districts to win District 34’s seat in November, remains District 15’s representative, the post he won in 2017, outgoing Republican U.S. Rep. Mayra Flores is still his new district’s congresswoman.
Meanwhile, in November voters elected Monica De La Cruz to the District 15 seat.
“We’re getting phone calls from people thinking we are Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz,” Rivera said.
But she hasn’t been sworn in, either.
“If someone does call us thinking we are in 34, we tell them we have not been sworn in, so we’re still in the 15th, in a way,” Rivera said.
Until he’s sworn in as District 34’s new representative, Gonzalez said he’s helping District 15’s constituents, too.
“We’re going to continue helping everybody,” Gonzalez said.
Background
Under a national spotlight, Gonzalez won more than 50 percent of the vote to defeat Flores in Nov. 8’s general election.
Last June, Flores won a special election after Democratic U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela resigned the post amid a Republican redistricting drive.
