The Republican Study Group backed the strategy quickly on Saturday with signatures from speaker candidates Reps. Austin Scott (Ga.), Mike Johnson (La.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jack Bergman (Mich.) and Kevin Hearn (Okla.).
Rep. Byron Donalds (Fla.) and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) are the only announced candidates who have not indicated support for the pledge.
However, they are only early contenders.
Lawmakers have until noon Sunday to make their nominations official before Monday night’s nominating forum and Tuesday morning’s GOP convention vote.
In a Saturday morning post, Emmer vowed to “always be honest and direct” with every Republican lawmaker and “never make a promise I can’t keep.”
“Our conference is at a crossroads and the deck is stacked against us,” Emmer warned.
Johnson released a lengthy letter to colleagues on Saturday listing his priorities if elected, including rebuilding trust and involving individual lawmakers in the policymaking process.
“It is incumbent upon us now to decide on a consensus candidate who will serve as a faithful caretaker and a good steward,” Johnson wrote. “We must govern well and expand our majority next year.”
House Republicans’ razor-thin majorities have enlarged and empowered the small group of lawmakers who ousted McCarthy.
Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry said he is not concerned about making it difficult to settle on a large pool of candidates in one choice. “We have a process, we have rules of convention,” he said.
“On Monday we’re going to come back and start over,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Friday.
A new crop of contestants spend the weekend working on the phones and recruiting partners to build their platform for the speakership. The same way Jordan spent last weekend.
With McCarthy, Scalise and Jordan all falling due to splits within the convention, many House Republicans are concerned that none of the new nominees will be able to get the 217 votes needed to secure the 217 votes needed without a major shift within the House GOP.
“I think the space and time for the overhaul is an important issue for House Republicans,” McHenry said Friday, explaining why he thought a weekend break was necessary in the process.
McHenry has promised to hold a third House vote in as many weeks, once the Republican convention decides on its next speaker nominee. However, if the House once again failed to elect a Speaker, he did not ask the Convention to pass a resolution authorizing him to introduce legislation.
Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
