Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said Thursday that he thinks the conservative House Freedom Caucus decided not to back his bid for House speaker because he said he would support any Republican who wins the nomination.
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is expected to easily get the 124 Republican votes he needs Thursday to become the nominee to be the next speaker. McCarthy is broadly opposed by conservative Republicans, and Chaffetz said the prospect of him supporting McCarthy seems to have been a turnoff for more conservative members.
“Clearly they … did not like that I said I would support the nominee,” Chaffetz told reporters about the Freedom Caucus response.
“Under the rules of our conference, whoever gets the majority of the votes is the nominee, and much like the presidential race, I said I would support the nominee, and I think … a lot of them didn’t like that answer,” he added.
On Wednesday, the House Freedom Caucus said it would back Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., as the next speaker. That decision won’t stop McCarthy from winning the vote among Republicans today, but it does make it clear that the new leadership team will have to restructure some of the House rules to placate conservatives and get them to vote for McCarthy on the House floor later this month.
McCarthy is expected to get somewhere around 200 votes from Republicans today, while Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Fla., who has support from the Freedom Caucus, could get somewhere around 40 votes.
If those estimates hold, it means there are just a handful of votes left for Chaffetz.
“Clearly I’m an underdog, I get that,” Chaffetz said.
