Speaking for the GOP: Will a new voice emerge after 2014 elections?

Who speaks for the Republican Party if the GOP has a good showing on Election Day?

Bill Whalen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, posed this question Monday at a media roundtable discussion attended by about 20 journalists.

For Whalen, a self-described “seamhead,” the question of who emerges as the GOP's election night voice — and beyond — is comparable to asking who becomes the face of the New York Yankees now that Derek Jeter has retired. (This was the theme of Whalen’s A Day at the Races blog post on the subject, published before Monday's discussion.)

The answer, Whalen suggests, is there will be a “stampede” of Republicans going before TV cameras on the night of Nov. 4  — starting with those who hold leadership positions such as Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell. But the list could also include Mitt Romney, who is in demand on the campaign trail in the midterm elections, as well as potential 2016 White House hopefuls such as Sens. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio.

“Because there isn’t a universally agreed upon person, we will gravitate to winners in big races,” predicts Lanhee Chen, policy director for Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign and a Hoover Institution research fellow on immigration.

Chen’s picks for new GOP voices after the 2014 elections: Tom Cotton, if he defeats Mark Pryor in the tight and closely watched Arkansas Senate race, and Elise Stefanik, a former aide to Rep. Paul Ryan, who is running for an open House seat in New York in a swing district against Aaron Woolf. If Stefanik wins, the 30-year-old would become the youngest woman elected in House history.

Whalen likes the idea of Chris Christie as a party spokesman on election night because of the New Jersey governor’s role as chairman of the Republican Governors Association. He says Christie makes sense if vulnerable Republicans such as Rick Scott in Florida and Scott Walker in Wisconsin win new terms and there are GOP pickups in Illinois or Massachusetts.

“He could go before the cameras and not give the Washington perspective,” Whalen said.

Tammy Frisby, a Hoover fellow specializing in national politics, sees Ohio Gov. John Kasich as an election-night voice — particularly if he has a resounding, double-digit victory. Kasich is currently leading Ed FitzGerald by about 19 percentage points, according to the average of recent polls compiled by Real Clear Politics.

“He could be someone who could speak about policy,” Frisby said about Kasich.