Conservatives Predict Boehner Won’t Be Back as Speaker Next Year

Two outspoken conservative lawmakers predicted John Boehner’s days as House speaker are numbered—despite an assurance from the Ohio Republican that he has every intention to return.

In response to a question at today’s Conversations with Conservatives event on Capitol Hill, Reps. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, and Matt Salmon, R-Ariz., said Boehner won’t be back next year.

“I don’t think he runs,” Labrador said.

“I don’t think he’s going to come back as speaker either,” Salmon added.

Boehner’s spokesman told The Daily Signal that’s not true. “The speaker has said—publicly and privately—that he intends to be speaker again next year,” Michael Steel said. “That has not changed.”

Boehner was first elected speaker in 2011 and, despite some opposition, was re-elected in 2013. A recent Politico report revealed some of Boehner’s closest allies already are maneuvering to ensure he has the support if he decides to return in 2015.

“Boehner’s friends are trying to make sure that a small pocket of tea party-aligned Republicans won’t have a chance to derail his speakership next year. And if they try, they could be punished,” Politico’s Jake Sherman reported.

Salmon addressed the report at today’s event: “I think that would be the most boneheaded move. Even making that kind of threat is a boneheaded move.”

Boehner wasn’t the only politician whose future was discussed at Conversations with Conservatives. Asked about Hillary Clinton’s possible presidential candidacy in 2016, Labrador predicted she won’t run. “I don’t think she can win—either in a primary or in a general election.”