The North Platte Telegraph hereby nominates the Honorable Mike Flood of Norfolk, representative of Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District and former three-term speaker of the Nebraska Legislature, as the next speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

(Stay with us, dear reader, please. There’s a larger point here.)

We haven’t approached Mr. Flood in this regard, nor has he approached us. The thought likely would shock him.

We also could support our own 3rd District Rep. Adrian Smith of Gering, who also has experience in Nebraska’s one-house, officially nonpartisan Legislature, or Rep. Don Bacon of Omaha’s 2nd District, who has the experience of putting his country first while wearing its military uniform.

But we offer (or pick on?) Mr. Flood to lead your distinguished body because of the most undistinguished things that have engulfed your chamber in recent years and, finally, this past week.

We have just seen a handful of Republican members join with every Democratic member to depose a GOP speaker of the House for the alleged cardinal sin of putting our nation before his party.

“At last,” we ought to add. We’re well aware that Mr. McCarthy, the honorable gentleman from California, put himself and his party first so very many times that he was bound to fall should he stop.

Be that as it may. On the verge of your shutting down the government because winning elections matters more to you than passing budgets, Mr. McCarthy this year reached across the aisle — twice — to find enough support to buy more time for your House to do its constitutional duty.

And he paid with his job.

The Republicans who insisted on this course (none of them from our state) have proved what they value most.

And Democrats? Mr. McCarthy’s predecessor, the honorable Democratic gentlewoman from California, simply said it has long been the tradition of the House that the majority party elects the speaker.

Tradition, yes. But if party leaders can no longer be counted upon to put the business of the country first, then you must cast them aside and form a coalition to choose leaders who will.

We offer Mr. Flood as your next speaker because he has the most experience among you of uniting lawmakers of disparate views and partisan hues to perform their first duty.

Our Unicameral has officially put Nebraskans over parties for 86 years. Mr. Flood served as its speaker longer than anyone. And he showed a remarkable ability to bring liberal, conservative and moderate state senators together to solve difficult issues.

Honorable members, this endless hyperpartisanship is destroying everything our Founders and their successors sacrificed and died for.

We humbly submit that the most qualified among you to decisively change this course are the three representatives from our great state of Nebraska.

But if experience in leading a lawmaking body is most important, then we propose that the members of the House, red, blue or purple, nominate and vote for the honorable gentleman from Nebraska, Mike Flood.

We yield the floor.

This editorial first appeared in the North Platte Telegraph on October 7, 2023. It was distributed by The Associated Press.