GOP state House speakers face tide of challenges from the right

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Republican state House speakers in at least three states are facing open rebellion on their right flanks. The latest test is coming in Ohio’s primaries Tuesday.

In recent weeks, Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan got dragged into a primary runoff for his seat by a challenger endorsed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and former President Donald Trump, after Phelan shepherded Paxton’s impeachment last year. In Wisconsin, a recall effort against state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos could fail due to a lack of valid signatures, but his standing on the right is perilous after narrowly surviving a primary challenge in 2022.

Now, in Ohio, Republican primary challengers are trying to unseat a dozen of the GOP state representatives who helped Democrats elevate a different speaker in 2023 over the choice of the Republican caucus.

Given the fracture among the Republican state representatives, neither of the Republican speaker candidates would have been able to win the speakership without Democratic votes. But defeating some of the members who elected state House Speaker Jason Stephens in 2023 may prevent him from getting another term in the role.

The state-level turmoil shows how divides in the GOP over both ideology and style are permeating the party at all levels, from the presidential primary to former U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster last year on down. And it demonstrates how these national-style fights are threatening state-level powerbrokers, the type of people whose local influence used to shield them from challenge.

Ohio state Rep. Ron Ferguson, who is leading a Republican faction against his GOP colleagues who voted for Stephens, told NBC News the primary challenges are about throwing out “people