Rep. Kevin McCarthy from Bakersfield struggled to beat back hardline conservative opposition and secure enough votes to offer him the speakership when the brand new House of Representatives convenes with a narrow Republican majority on Tuesday.
After a poorer-than-expected showing in November midterm elections, McCarthy’s fellow Republicans have been embroiled in a public brawl over who should lead their party once it assumes control of the House.
A bunch of hardline conservatives oppose McCarthy’s candidacy, concerned that he’s less deeply vested within the culture wars and partisan rivalries which have dominated the House and much more so since Donald Trump’s White House years.
They’ve criticized the California Republican for not taking a more aggressive stance against Democrats, who under Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been on top of things, on priorities including government funding, defense and border security.
Representatives Bob Good and Matt Gaetz are amongst five Republican lawmakers who’ve said they’d not back McCarthy.
With a narrow 222-213 Republican majority, McCarthy can afford to lose just 4 votes from his caucus to win the 218 he needs, or half of the chamber’s 435 members. No Democrats are more likely to vote for him.
“I won’t be voting for Kevin McCarthy tomorrow. He’s a part of the issue. He’s not a part of the answer,” Good told Fox News on Monday. “There’s nothing that indicates to me that he’s going to alter his pattern since he’s been in leadership, where he’s a part of the swamp cartel.”
In an interview last week with the conservative Day by day Caller website, Gaetz said: “I feel he’s only a shill of the establishment. I feel that Kevin McCarthy is little greater than a vessel through which lobbyists and special interests operate.”
Asked if he had the votes as he walked through the Capitol on Monday, McCarthy told reporters, “I feel we’re going to have a superb day tomorrow.”
During a Sunday evening conference call, nonetheless, McCarthy couldn’t tell Republican lawmakers he had secured enough votes for the speakership, the Recent York Times reported, citing two people aware of the decision.
The speaker will set the House legislative agenda during a period of divided government in Washington, with President Joe Biden’s Democrats retaining the White House and Senate. The ability struggle could undermine House Republicans’ hopes of moving forward quickly on investigations into Biden’s administration and family.
McCarthy, the House minority leader, who was nominated for the speakership in November by 188 of his fellow Republicans, made some concessions over the weekend but they didn’t go far enough for some.
A Recent Yr’s Day letter from nine unsatisfied conservative Republican lawmakers, posted on Twitter, said “there proceed to be missing specific commitments with respect to virtually every component of our entreaties.”
The letter also said “the times call for radical departure from the establishment — not a continuation of past, and ongoing, Republican failures.”
