Sunday shows preview: House GOP prepares for contested Speaker race

The anticipated election of a new Speaker of the House next week will likely be the focus of the weekends’ Sunday news shows.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) are the two declared candidates for the top House job. They will argue their cases to their colleagues in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday.

Jordan will be featured on Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” this weekend.

The House has been without a Speaker for nearly a week after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was ousted from the role on Tuesday, the first Speaker to ever be voted out.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) — who led the effort to get rid of McCarthy — will be on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Three more of the eight GOP lawmakers to vote out McCarty will also make appearances on Sunday shows: Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) on ABC’s “This Week,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” and Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) has been one of the most vocal GOP members calling for the party to change course after a chaotic week. 

He said the GOP needs to have a “real reckoning” at the Tuesday meeting and that McCarthy’s removal was “disgraceful.”

“Number one, I want to hear how any of these candidates plan to handle holding these eight members accountable,” Lawler said in a CNN interview Wednesday. “They voted with 208 Democrats to torpedo our House Republican majority. The American people elected us to govern to serve as a check and balance on the Biden agenda and everything that we’ve been focused on from cutting spending to securing our border was just imperiled by these eight individuals.”

Lawler will appear on “State of the Union,” as will House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.).

Jordan’s chair of the House Judiciary Committee will likely take the focus on “Sunday Morning Futures.” The committee’s investigation into government weaponization, specifically through the FBI, garnered headlines accusing the body of helping Democrats.

Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who have both supported the efforts, will appear on “Sunday Morning Futures,” as well as two witnesses for the committee’s hearings: Nicole Parker and Steve Friend.

Despite all the attention on the Speaker race, the government still faces a shutdown threat next month when funding runs out. The House and Senate passed a 45-day, last-second continuing resolution to keep the government open last week, but now lawmakers must again race against the clock to get the government funded.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) is among the lawmakers who have pushed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to cancel the body’s upcoming planned recess and get to work on passing funding bills. He will be on “State of the Union.”

A likely late addition to Sunday news show rundowns will be the unprecedented attacks on Israel from Gaza that began Saturday morning. The Palestinian militant group Hamas invaded Israeli towns and fired hundreds of missiles into the country on Saturday. 

At least 250 Israelis and 232 Palestinians have been killed, according to Israeli media and the Palestinian government.

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates will appear on “Face the Nation.”

The 2024 election will also hang over the shows as it does every weekend, with presidential candidates spreading out over the country on the campaign trail and with the next debate a month away.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) will feature on “This Week,” while Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) will take on “Face the Nation.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) will have “Fox News Sunday” to himself, being the only planned guest alongside his wife, Casey.

Below is the full list of guests scheduled to appear on this week’s Sunday talk shows:

NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash).

CBS’ “Face the Nation” — South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican presidential candidate; Rep. Nancy Mace, (R-S.C.); Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-Ill.); New York City Mayor Eric Adams; former Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

CNN’s “State of the Union” — Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.); Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.).

“Fox News Sunday” — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, and his wife, Casey.

Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures” — Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.); Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R); FBI whistleblowers Nicole Parker and Steve Friend.