CARBONDALE, Ill. (WSIL) -- U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Peoria) is getting ready to leave his district this week to work on a solution to avoid a potential government shutdown.
Last week LaHood voted for eventual House Speaker U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana), ending three weeks of Republican infighting that froze American politics. LaHood believes Kevin McCarthy should've remained speaker.
"To allow 4% of our Republican conference to partner with Democrats to bring down McCarthy was the wrong decision to make," LaHood said. "That will go down as a dark day."
At a scheduled talk at SIU, hosted by the school's Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, LaHood-- who voted for U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on three previous ballots-- said Johnson is the right fit to unite the Republican Party.
"Members of the House including myself are willing to give Mike some runway and some flexibility here," LaHood said.
Johnson, a relative unknown outside of Washington, was one of the lawyers for former President Donald Trump who fought not to certify the 2020 election results. On January 6, 2021 LaHood voted to certify the results.
News 3 asked LaHood if his vote for Johnson negated his vote to certify the 2020 election results.
"I don't think so," LaHood said.
Ray LaHood, Darin's father, was an Illinois Congressman from 1995 to 2009 before he was tabbed to become U.S. Secretary of Transportation for then-President Barack Obama.
The elder LaHood says bipartisanship is strongly needed in a time where the political divide is strong.
"Civil Rights issues and discrimination issues. Those issues have been solved with bipartisanship. Not by one party," Ray LaHood said.
House lawmakers were scheduled to be in their districts this week and next week. Johnson canceled those district visits in favor of spending more time in Washington to stop an impending government shutdown.
"We can't let the government shut down by November 17," LaHood said.
