Upton says it will be ‘hard to govern’ if GOP doesn’t nab big House majority

Outgoing Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) said on Sunday that it will be “hard to govern” if the GOP does not win 230 seats in the House in the upcoming midterm elections — questioning whether House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) could nab the speakership with any fewer.

“Can Kevin McCarthy both represent you and Marjorie Taylor Greene?” moderator Chuck Todd asked Upton on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“He can if he gets the margin. That’s why this over-under number is so important,” Upton responded.

“You think he may not become Speaker if it’s under 230?” Todd asked.

“It will be very hard to govern for Republicans if we’re under 230 [seats] knowing that we’ve got the MTG element that’s really not a part of a governing majority.”

Republicans currently hold 209 seats in the House to Democrats’ 221. There are five vacancies, four of which were GOP-held seats.

Greene, a Georgia Republican, has suggested that McCarthy does not have the votes to become Speaker should the GOP take control of the chamber.

“We know that Kevin McCarthy has a problem in our conference. He doesn’t have the full support to be Speaker,” Greene said last November.

“He doesn’t have the votes that are there, because there’s many of us that are very unhappy about the failure to hold Republicans accountable, while conservatives like me, Paul Gosar, and many others just constantly take the abuse by the Democrats. The American people aren’t going to have it,” she said.

Upton announced earlier this month that he would be retiring from his House seat, which he has held since 1987. He was one of 10 Republicans to vote to impeach former President Trump following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, making him a target of Trump and his supporters.

Trump celebrated Upton’s retirement, whose exit means nearly half of the Republicans who voted for impeachment are leaving Congress at the end of this term.

McCarthy said last month he was not worried about a serious challenge for the Speaker’s gavel should the GOP take control of the House after the midterm elections.

“If you’re a minority leader the day of the election, you win, and you win the majority, you’re probably going to be the Speaker,” McCarthy said. “They’re not going to change the coach between the playoff and the Super Bowl.”

“Doesn’t mean they won’t hold my feet to the fire,” McCarthy added. “They will.”

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