Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy won’t get to be House Speaker next year, but the California lawmaker is in a good position to defeat Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and capture the top GOP post of House minority leader.
Jordan is the only Republican challenging McCarthy, R-Calif., and while Jordan has a loyal following of conservatives, they number only two or three dozen, which isn’t enough to win.
“We have the votes and we are ready to go,” a top GOP aide familiar with McCarthy’s whip count told the Washington Examiner.
McCarthy is hoping to replace retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and his path got easier on Election Day, when Democrats won back the majority. If Republicans stayed in the majority, McCarthy would have needed a majority of the whole House to be elected speaker. In that case, Jordan and his conservative faction could have withheld those votes, or traded them for assurances that McCarthy would pursue a more aggressive, conservative agenda.
But as the minority party, McCarthy only needs to win a majority of House Republicans, which should be an easy feat.
Jordan is a founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who has clashed with GOP leaders before. But while McCarty is relatively more moderate, he has his own strengths that he’s demonstrated in recent years.
For example, McCarthy is a top fundraiser who has built strong relationships with the rank and file during his tenure in the leadership. He raised $60 million during the 2018 election cycle, and while the Republicans lost the majority, McCarthy is seen by many as the lawmaker best positioned to help the GOP get the gavel back in 2020.
“I helped build a majority from a deeper hole than this and I have what it takes to do it again,” McCarthy said in a pitch to GOP lawmakers this week.
Jordan has also raised millions of dollars, but he has directed those funds at a far more narrow group of conservative candidates.
Both Jordan and McCarthy like to tout their close relationship with Trump.
Jordan has led the charge against the Mueller investigation into allegations that Trump’s campaign conspired with the Russians to defeat Hilary Clinton. He also pushed for the impeachment of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into the Russia-Trump campaign allegations.
Trump praised Jordan at an Ohio rally in August.
“He’s a brave, tough cookie along with some of his friends,” Trump said.
But a top GOP aide said McCarthy speaks with Trump several times each week and the two have forged a close relationship.
“Kevin probably has the best relationship with the president out of every member on the Hill, from either chamber,” a GOP aide told the Washington Examiner.
Meanwhile, the rest of the GOP leadership is also expected to look about the same as it does this year. McCarthy’s top deputy, Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., is on a glide path to remain the Republican whip.
But the GOP leadership team will include one newcomer. Republican Conference chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., announced Thursday she won’t run again for the position she’s held for six years.
Her likely successor is Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who so far is the only lawmaker vying for the post.
