WASHINGTON (BP)–Republicans in the House of Representatives elected Rep. John Boehner of Ohio to be their majority leader Feb. 2.
Boehner won a come-from-behind victory on the second ballot to replace Rep. Tom DeLay of Texas. He did so by defeating Roy Blunt of Missouri and John Shadegg of Arizona, two other members who, like him, have pro-life, conservative voting records.
Boehner and Blunt have had 100 percent pro-life voting records every year since 1997, according to the National Right to Life Committee. Shadegg has had a 100 percent pro-life voting record in every Congress since ’97 except during the 2003-04 session, when he was graded at 91 percent by NRLC.
According to LifeNews.com, Boehner stated his commitment to the pro-life cause in a letter to the Values Action Team, a group of pro-life lawmakers. The letter was part of his campaign for the majority leader position.
“It is a commitment I have felt deeply throughout my life and a commitment I will uphold unapologetically,” he wrote, according to LifeNews.com.
Boehner voted for the bill that was intended to save the life of Terri Schiavo, LifeNews.com reported, and he has voted against using government funds for embryonic stem cell research.
On the first ballot, Blunt had a sizable lead with 110 votes but lacked a majority among the 231 Republican participants, The Washington Post reported. Boehner received 79 votes on the opening ballot, while Shadegg gained 40. An unannounced candidate who also is pro-life, Jim Ryun of Kansas, had two votes.
Shadegg and Ryun withdrew after the first ballot, and apparently all or most of their votes, as well as some of Blunt’s, went to Boehner. On the second ballot, Boehner received 122 votes to defeat Blunt, who had 109, according to The Post.
DeLay stepped down as majority leader after a September indictment by a Travis County grand jury for conspiring to violate a Texas ban on the use of corporate money by political candidates. Delay, who has continued to maintain his seat in the House, is a member of Second Baptist Church in Houston.
Blunt, who served as the acting majority leader after DeLay left his post, is a member of First Baptist Church in Branson, Mo. A former president of Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, Mo., Blunt will continue to serve as majority whip in the House.
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