Washington — Michigan Republican U.S. Rep. Bergman is among nine candidates running to be the GOP nominee for House speaker ― and the only one advertising that he’d take the job temporarily.
The fourth-term congressman said he would serve either for the remainder of the session or until his colleagues find a candidate with enough votes to replace him.
“I’m military. And when you are in the middle of a fight, if the commander goes down on the battlefield, someone steps up to still prosecute the fight,” Bergman told reporters Friday.
“I don’t want this job. I don’t aspire to be in this job, but we’re in the middle of a fight right now for more than just a budget,” he added, “but I will volunteer to step up to properly relieve until we get 217 votes out of this room.”
The House of Representatives is in its third week without a speaker after a group of eight Republicans and all Democrats voted to oust California Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who had been speaker since January. The GOP conference’s two previous nominees, Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio, failed to win the 217 votes needed on the House floor.
Bergman, 76, of Watersmeet is highlighting his 40 years in the Marine Corps where he achieved the rank of lieutenant general; is stressing that he’s not beholden to any faction of his party; and is claiming he would be a “unifying voice” who could win over votes where others could not.
“While in uniform, I ran into my fair share of different personalities and conflicting ideologies, and yet, it was my job to put our differences aside, establish a common purpose and goal, and see our mission through to completion,” Bergman wrote in a letter Saturday to his colleagues.
“We need a speaker who is willing to step up, go on the offensive, and make the tough calls when it matters most.”
Bergman flew a helicopter in the Vietnam War and commanded the Marine Forces Reserve at his retirement from the Corps in 2009. He is the highest-ranking combat veteran to have ever served in the U.S. House, according to his office.
Bergman currently serves on the House Armed Services, Veterans Affairs and Budget panels, chairing the Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations. He also had a 22-year career as a Northwest Airlines pilot and has operated a medical supply business.
Bergman, a grandfather of 10, built a home in Watersmeet in the western Upper Peninsula in 1998. Generations ago, his family had arrived in the U.P. in the 1880s, but his father left the Ironwood area around 1925 for work, settling in Minnesota, where Bergman grew up.
“I made a conscious decision 35 years ago, when I started to come back to the U.P., that this was where I was going to spend my days, build my house for whenever I got done with my busy life,” Bergman told The Detroit News when he first ran for Congress in 2016.
That year, then-House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin went to Traverse City to campaign for Bergman. He represents Michigan’s 1st District that covers the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula including Traverse City.
The district was considered a toss-up when he first ran but is now rated solidly Republican territory. Bergman told residents that if they wanted change in Washington, “send a Marine.”
Bergman picked up endorsements from most of Michigan’s GOP delegation late Friday: U.S. Reps. Tim Walberg of Tipton; John Moolenaar of Caledonia; Lisa McClain of Bruce Township; and John James of Shelby Township.
In addition to Bergman, the other official candidates are Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, Tom Emmer of Minnesota, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, Gary Palmer of Alabama, Austin Scott of Georgia and Pete Sessions of Texas.
House Republicans are expected to gather behind closed doors Monday night for a candidates’ forum, then meet for an internal election by secret ballot Tuesday morning. A majority of the conference is required to win.
Former U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph, predicted that, given the number of candidates, the House GOP conference could end up going six or even eight rounds of voting before one candidate wins a majority.
“The real question will be on Wednesday or so when they’ve got to get 217 on the House floor again, and that’s going to be the tough trick,” Upton said on CNN. “And, of course, if they can’t, then here we go again ― all over again. So it’s a mighty rough road.”
Bergman is supporting an effort by Nebraska Rep. Mike Flood to get all House GOP lawmakers to pledge to support the eventual speaker-designate on the House floor.
“When we came out of conference, I fully supported McCarthy, Scalise, & Jordan. All Republicans should immediately unite behind our next Speaker Designate,” Bergman tweeted over the weekend. “No more messing around with the future of our Nation.”
Bergman is an ally of former President Donald Trump, endorsing him over the summer with Michigan’s five other Republicans in Congress. He objected to the certification of the 2020 election and has called the Manhattan district attorney’s case against Trump a ” politically motivated witch hunt.”
In the House, he’s been an outspoken supporter of U.S. military families, veterans, securing the Southern border, defending gun rights and expanding rural broadband coverage. He’s also pressed for robust funding for the replacement lock at the Soo shipping lock complex that’s located in his district.
He voted for military aid for Ukraine, the debt-ceiling budget bill in June and for the 47-day stop-gap spending bill to avoid a government shutdown Oct. 1.
In December, Bergman voted against legislation to protect same-sex marriage. Only 39 House GOP lawmakers voted for that bill, including Upton and former Rep. Peter Meijer of Grand Rapids Township. He’s also opposes veterans healthcare coverage for elective transgender surgeries.
He also voted no a bill to remove statues of Gen. Robert E. Lee and other Confederate leaders from the U.S. Capitol in 2020, and this year backed GOP efforts to gut funding for diversity training and offices at the Pentagon.
He said he views efforts to boost recruitment and retention through DEI efforts as a waste of time and money that could jeopardize military readiness: “Marines are all one color: They’re green,” he said.
Bergman, a member of the Congressional Pro Life Caucus, voted for a July amendment to a defense bill to roll back a Pentagon policy that reimburses service members for travel expenses to get an abortion out of state. He has also co-sponsored the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.
Bergman passed at least two bills this year. In May, he got through the House a bill inspired by a Michigan veteran that would extend eligibility for burial benefits to terminally ill veterans who die at home, outside a Veterans Affairs hospital or facility. In July, the House passed his bill with Rep. James directing completion of a new study of potential security shortfalls at the Soo Locks.
Bergman introduced legislation in January to pay the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community about $34 million to compensate for the federal government’s taking of thousands of acres of their reservation land in Baraga County starting roughly 168 years ago.
Bergman has introduced legislation with Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, this year to require the secretary of defense to publicly publish updated information on the status of the cleanup of PFAS-contaminated sites.
Other measures he’s pushed this year include those to help veterans attain homeownership; to allow Canadian snowbirds to stay in the country longer; and to censure Democratic U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit over her outspoken criticism of Israel.
On Capitol Hill, he wants to suspend the press credentials of the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is backed by Qatar’s royal family, until Qatar and the network register as foreign agents. His bill on this would require FBI background checks for all journalists applying for credentials via a “qualifying foreign state-sponsored media outlet.”
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