House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) warned that the Democrats could wind up picking the speaker of the House if the Republican conference doesn’t coalesce behind his speakership bid.
McCarthy said House Republicans could find themselves in a “fragile” position if certain factions “play games.” Five GOP lawmakers have pledged not to vote for McCarthy for speaker, which may be enough to sink his bid in the vote on Jan. 3.
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“We got five more weeks. We’re working through our conference rules today. We want to make sure that everybody has input, but we have to speak as one voice. We will only be successful if we work together, or we’ll lose individually,” he told Newsmax on Monday night. “This is very fragile that we are the only stopgap for this Biden administration. If we don’t do this, right, the Democrats can take the majority. If we play games on the floor, the Democrats can end up picking who the speaker is. So I think at the end of the day, calmer heads will prevail.”
In a 188-31 vote, the GOP conference nominated McCarthy for the top House position, with most of the opposition coming from those aligned with the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Former caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) put himself forward as an alternate option and is one of the five planning to oppose McCarthy in the full House vote on the first day of the 118th Congress.
Republicans who oppose McCarthy outright include Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL), in addition to Biggs, while Reps. Bob Good (R-VA) and Matt Rosendale (R-MT) have voiced serious concerns but have not committed to voting against him.
Some centrist lawmakers have floated the idea of nominating someone like outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) or former Rep. Justin Amash, who left the GOP and is now a Libertarian Party member. The speaker does not technically have to be a member of the House, though anyone other than a sitting member securing the majority of the House vote is highly unlikely.
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“A five-seat majority is actually the complete difference of where the Democrats were — exactly the same numbers. So we can do a lot, but we’re going to have to work together to make that happen,” McCarthy said.
As the midterm election vote tallies stand, Republicans are expected to have 222 seats. The Freedom Caucus is negotiating several rules concessions this week that could sway some of McCarthy’s naysayers to his side.
