House Freedom Caucus Members Threaten to Challenge McCarthy for Speaker’s Gavel
Members of the House Freedom Caucus have presented the speaker-in-waiting, Kevin McCarthy, with a list of demands and threatened to put forward a challenger for the speakership if they are not met.
The primary demand is that McCarthy name one of their own to a senior leadership position should Republicans reclaim a narrow majority once the dust settles in Tuesday’s midterm elections, Politico reports. They are also demanding that McCarthy embrace certain rule changes favorable to them.
Following the Republican Party’s lackluster midterm performance, Freedom Caucus members are expected to have more leverage over McCarthy given that he’s expected to ascend to the speakership with a precariously thin majority.
Depending on how the outstanding house races unfold, the Freedom Caucus may be able to even block McCarthy’s speakership ambitions, though that outcome remains unlikely. Instead, the speakership challenge is being construed by some in the caucus as “a show of force.”
Representative Bob Good (R., Va.), a member of the Freedom Caucus, cast the maneuvering as “a show of force to demonstrate that he [McCarthy] doesn’t have the 218 votes…We know there are a number of members who feel as we do, that Kevin McCarthy has not earned the right to lead, has not earned our vote,” Good told Politico.
Several members of the Freedom Caucus, however, have stated there are no formal plans to challenge McCarthy while entertaining other strategic options.
“But I think we need to have a serious discussion…[McCarthy] back peddled on things like impeachment and, in some ways, that indicates a willingness to be weakening the oversight authority that we need to have and the leverage points we need to have in order to deal with a Democrat president,” Representative Andy Biggs (R., Ariz.) told Fox News.
Another Freedom Caucus member, and onetime McCarthy challenger, Jim Jordan of Ohio appeared resigned to the idea that McCarthy would likely take control. When asked about potentially running against McCarthy, Jordan demurred.
“The guy who gets you to the Super Bowl, even if it’s a game in overtime, gets to coach the game in my judgment…I’ve not heard of anyone stepping forward. And don’t necessarily anticipate that,” Jordan said in a radio interview with Fox News Radio Wednesday.
Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson is set to speak to the Freedom Caucus Thursday night as part of the group’s incoming strategy to leverage their crucial House seats to gain more influence in the wake of the Republican Party’s underperformance in the midterms, the Daily Caller’s Henry Rodgers first reported.
Former president Donald Trump endorsed McCarthy as his pick for the speakership on Monday.
