2016 GOP candidates cheer John Boehner's resignation
After news broke of House Speaker John Boehner's resignation, GOP presidential candidates were quick to weigh in, with some celebrating the end of the reign of Boehner.
GOP frontrunner Donald Trump thought it was "wonderful" that Boehner was stepping down.
"I think it's wonderful, frankly," Trump said at the conservative gathering, the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. "I think it's good. It's time. It's time for somebody else to go in."
The billionaire businessman added that he personally didn't believe Boehner was conservative enough. Trump did not, however, have any candidates in mind to replace him.
"I don't have a comment on that," he responded, after being asked who should take over the leadership position. "I don't think he's conservative."
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the first of the 2016 hopefuls to speak at Friday's grassroots conservative assembly, broke the news himself to the audience that the House Speaker was giving up his seat.
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"Just a few minutes ago, Speaker Boehner announced that he will be resigning," Marco Rubio announced Friday. The declaration was met with raucous applause from the audience, even bringing some to their feet.
Rubio declined to comment more - "I'm not here today to bash anyone," he said, instead calling for a new direction in the GOP.
"The time has come to turn the page and provide a new generation of leadership in this country," the Florida Republican added, "and that extends to the White House and the presidency as well."
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum had no qualms about slamming Boehner, saying that he was someone who had "changed a bit" from being a conservative.
"It's probably time for him to have stepped down to start a new chapter here in Washington D.C.," Santorum said.
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also called for a refresh of the Republican leadership.
"This is an opportunity for a new speaker who will take it as a solemn commitment to the men and women who elected them that he or she is going to do exactly what we told voters," Cruz told reporters at the VVS gathering.
For the next House speaker, Cruz hopes that it would be a "strong principled conservative who will the honor commitments he made to the men and women who elected him."
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speculated that the reason for Boehner's hasty resignation was seeing Pope Francis' address to a joint meeting of Congress.
"I think yesterday was a real moment for the Speaker," Christie said in an interview with the Michael Smerconish radio show. "We know that he's been trying for years to get the head of the Catholic Church to come and to address Congress and I can tell from seeing him yesterday that this was a very emotional moment for him."
"I'm sure the Speaker will tell us all in due course his reasons but I almost feel like yesterday he saw Pope Francis standing in the well of the Congress-- that just may be a good way to end his congressional career," Christie continued. He added that "we've all seen this coming" and noted that "there's been a split between, you know, portions of the Republican conference and the speaker over time."
Democrats seemed almost sorry to see Boehner go. Bernie Sanders lamented the possibility of having a more extreme conservative wing of Republicans without Boehner's mitigating influence.
"It appears that even a very conservative speaker like John Boehner is unable to control the extreme right-wing drift of Republicans in the House," Sanders said in a statement. "This is a party whose ideology is way out of touch with the American people. Without Boehner, it may get even worse."
Lincoln Chafee, Rhode Island's former governor, echoed Sanders' sentiment.
"Speaker Boehner, like Speaker Gingrich before him, could not bring the extreme elements of his party to understand that after elections are over there comes a time to govern responsibly," Chafee said.