A movement is underway among Republican House members to unseat House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, who’s said he’ll be seeking a third term in the chair.

The House will caucus and vote by secret ballot at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday on the next speaker, after formal adjournment.

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REP. AUSTIN MCCOLLUM

But Rep. Austin McCollum of Bentonville has called a meeting of the House Republican caucus at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday for action related to the procedure for electing the speaker-designate for the 2023 legislative session. McCollum, the House majority leader, had indicated earlier that he might be interested in seeking the speaker’s position. Other Northwest Arkansas Republicans have expressed some desire for a change in leadership, such as Rep. Gayla McKenzie, who lost a bid to require that speaker elections be decided by public ballots

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I’ve been unsuccessful so far in finding out specific details of the agenda.  McCollum and several others have not returned messages.

But the likely explanation is that the meeting is to bind all Republicans to the winner of the party caucus vote on the next speaker. That would ensure the election of the caucus winner in the House, with its 76 Republican members. In past elections, though the vote has been by secret ballot, it’s been presumed that Democrats were among the supporters of Shepherd, a Republican from El Dorado.

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Rep. McKenzie said the meeting Tuesday morning would be of the Republican caucus. She continued:

I don’t know about any efforts with regard to potential rule changes. But I can say unequivocally that I support the Republican Party Platform, as I believe all Republicans should do. The platform does indeed call for the Republican nominee for the Senate President and Speaker of the House to be selected by the majority of the Republican Caucus of its respective chamber and further calls on each Republican member of the General Assembly to support their chamber’s nominee.

Finally, I have consistently spoken out for transparency and will continue to advance and support any efforts to abandon the secret ballot. We need to be accountable for our our votes that we cast as the people’s representatives.  And just for the record….we ought to broadcast the speaker designate election online.

UPDATE: I’m now reliably informed that the GOP caucus will first hold a vote on whether to commit to nominee. Is there a vote for a change? Uncertain.

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Peril remains in the formal secret ballot vote. A combine of Republicans and Democrats got Sen. Jimmy Hickey elected Senate president pro tem in 2020 on a secret ballot vote, an outcome that caused heartburn among Republicans who believed the GOP caucus pick, Sen. Bart Hester, should have prevailed in the majority Republican chamber to lead the Senate for two years. They reverted to that practice in the election this year, won by Hester.

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