Johns Hopkins Expert: House Speaker Vote Highlights Intense Interparty Gridlock

The chaos surrounding the vote for speaker of the House of Representatives demonstrates how gridlock is intensifying within the Republican Party, according to Johns Hopkins political scientist Daniel Schlozman.

“The speaker contest has a Back to the Future quality reminiscent of what we saw in the final years of the Obama administration, where the House Freedom Caucus caused so much trouble for Republican leadership.” said Schlozman. “Since his ride down the escalator in 2015, so much of the energy on the right has centered on Donald Trump. Now the focus again returns to other disruptive forces on the right.” 

Schlozman is the Joseph and Bertha Bernstein Associate Professor in Johns Hopkins Department of Political Science.