Republican Infighting Complicates McCarthy’s Quest For House Speaker

Topline

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.)’s once-firm prospects of claiming the gavel have fallen on shaky ground as the right-wing House Freedom Caucus, eyeing a power play under a slimmer-than-expected Republican majority in the House next year, has waged a challenge to his long-sought leadership hopes.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) answers questions during a press conference at the … [+] U.S. Capitol on July 29.

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Key Facts

Less than a week after the November 8 election, McCarthy’s odds began to shift, starting with calls from prominent Republicans to delay the leadership nominations—a move that would have granted more time for the GOP to build support for an alternative candidate.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), the former chair of the right-wing Freedom Caucus who reportedly began considering a bid for speaker in the days after the midterm, announced Tuesday he would formally run against McCarthy after losing the nomination to him in November.

Biggs is publicly backed by Freedom Caucus members Reps. Bob Good (Va.), Ralph Norman (S.C.) and Chip Roy (Tx.) and more could come out in support of Biggs now that he has officially announced his candidacy.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a Freedom Caucus member who has been courting McCarthy in hopes of regaining her standing in Congress after she was ousted from committee assignments last year, has broken from her right-wing colleagues to support McCarthy.

A coalition of moderate GOP members in the Good Governance Group urged the party to rally behind McCarthy and admonished members who are against him, asking “do you want to make a point or a difference?” in a December 1 letter signed by 21 Republicans, including the group’s chair, Rep. Dave Joyce (Ohio).

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said he would be willing to reach across the aisle and recruit Democrats to find a moderate candidate that members of both parties could support if the GOP can’t come to an agreement on McCarthy, Bacon told the Omaha World Herald last month.

Key Background

McCarthy was nominated for the speakership in a closed-door GOP vote in November, 188-31. But he will need 30 additional votes to win a simple majority in the January 3 speakership election in one fell swoop. As of now, three GOP members have said they will vote against McCarthy and three more have expressed skepticism about supporting him, meaning all other Republicans in the 222-member caucus, plus the three who are on the fence, would need to vote for McCarthy in order for him to win outright. Biggs’ bid is a long-shot, but what it could do is set up an embarrassing floor fight for McCarthy that hasn’t been seen in a century and only 14 times in history. If McCarthy fails to clinch 218 votes on the first round, voting will go to a second round of ballots until one candidate reaches the 218-vote threshold to win.

Tangent

Biggs, in announcing his speakership bid in an op-ed in the right-leaning Daily Caller, referenced former President Donald Trump and called on the GOP to rebuke the “establishment” that Biggs said has served as a platform for McCarthy. “We actually have the opportunity to dislodge the establishment and reinvigorate the America First movement that was founded by former President Donald Trump,” Biggs wrote.

Republican Infighting Complicates McCarthy’s Quest For House Speaker—Here’s What Could Actually Happen

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