WASHINGTON—One-time college placekicker Jason Chaffetz wants to boot Republican House leaders off their path to promotions.
Chaffetz declared Sunday, Oct. 4, that he’s running to replace retiring House Speaker John Boehner, even though Boehner has chosen Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy as his successor, and upend the would-be GOP leadership slate.
It’s not a new role for Chaffetz. The 48-year-old chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has never been shy about seeking leading roles in politics. He’s climbed the power ladder through a mix of media savvy and confrontations with some establishment favorites.
And despite having strong family roots in Democratic politics—his father was the Utah co-chairman for Michael Dukakis’s presidential campaign in 1988 and was once married to Dukakis’s wife, Kitty—Chaffetz entered Congress in 2009 ideologically aligned with the tea party-tinged class that propelled the GOP into the House majority two years later.
It’s far from clear that Chaffetz will win enough support in the House’s complex selection process. Within moments of his announcement, Republicans friendly to McCarthy raised questions about his fitness for the post. But Chaffetz insists that the biggest House majority in decades needs an overhaul at the top, and that he’s being called to lead it.
