Skip to content

Ben Sasse Pitches Arthur Brooks for Speaker

Sasse wants the House to draft Arthur Brooks as the next speaker to replace John A. Boehner, R-Ohio. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)
Sasse wants the House to draft Arthur Brooks as the next speaker to replace John A. Boehner, R-Ohio. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

In an extraordinary flurry of tweets Sunday night, freshman Sen. Ben Sasse proposed drafting Arthur Brooks, the president of the American Enterprise Institute, as the next speaker of the House.

The Constitution doesn’t require a House member to be elected speaker, leaving people to dream up any number of scenarios like, hey, Donald Trump. But Sasse, a Nebraska Republican, appeared quite serious.

He even bought the domain for DraftArthurBrooks.com, although the page is currently just a blank GoDaddy.com page. And, of course, Brooks would need 218 votes, something that is looking to be a tall order for just about anybody at this point with GOP infighting emboldening more candidates for speaker to take on Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., long seen as the odds-on favorite to wield the gavel.

(Roll Call profiled Brooks and his effort to forge a “new right” in 2013.)

Sasse also expressed distaste for the media coverage of the leadership fights.

“Media framing of Speaker’s race is reductionistic choice: small-ball Establishment vs wild-eyed Visigoths who want to burn govt to ground,” a view that he called “junk.”

Here’s the full tweet-storm:

Recent Stories

Six fiscal 2026 spending bills done, six more to go

Comer wants spending bill to delay intoxicating hemp ban

Trump health plan asks Congress for drug, insurance legislation

Wrap-up: Congress leaves for MLK Day with long January to-do list

Senators plot more war powers efforts despite Venezuela setback

At the Races: Spotlight Minnesota