ANALYSIS — Speaker Mike Johnson’s record-setting fundraising haul for the second quarter shows it’s time for a Beltway tradition to be laid to rest.
Every time Republicans are faced with electing a new speaker, there’s a fresh round of stories featuring party operatives and lobbyists fretting over the GOP’s fundraising future and casting doubt over prospective speakers’ ability to to fill the shoes of the departing incumbent.
“The House G.O.P Has Its Leader. But Can He Be a Rainmaker?” asked an October 2023 New York Times headline. “The willingness of House Republicans to trade a party rainmaker for a member who has raised less than some more junior colleagues has caused a deep sense of uncertainty at the highest levels of the conference, even as relieved lawmakers united behind Mr. Johnson to end weeks of political paralysis,” the story read.
