House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announced his bid for Speaker of the House on Wednesday even before it was clear that Republicans would control the chamber.
And the fact that Republican control of the House remains uncertain the day after Tuesday’s midterm elections could make trouble for McCarthy’s bid.
“We were told we were going to have an incredible, incredible wave,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) said on a right-wing internet program. “I don’t understand why [McCarthy’s speakership] is just a foregone conclusion.”
Biggs is a senior member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of several dozen House Republicans that has already demanded rules changes that would empower rank-and-file members and make McCarthy’s life more difficult as speaker.
Democrats beat expectations in Tuesday’s midterm election, holding off Republican challengers even in some districts where Donald Trump prevailed in 2020, and as of Wednesday afternoon it was still uncertain whether Republicans would ultimately win a majority, though that outcome seemed likely.
McCarthy portrayed the middling result as a historic victory in a letter asking his colleagues for their support.
“Over the past century, Republicans had flipped the House from Democrats just four times: 1946, 1952, 1994, and 2010. Only twice did that flip occur in four years or less,” McCarthy wrote. “While a number of races remain outstanding, I can confidently report that we will join that list, build on our significant gains from last cycle, and achieve our goal of taking back the House.”
A senior Democratic aide said McCarthy has been “measuring the drapes for years” and that interns in his office are already expected to call him “Mr. Speaker” in his current position. An aide to McCarthy called the anecdote untrue.
“Assuming they eke out a tiny majority, he’s going to be asked for crazy concessions which will cause problems,” the Democratic aide said. “Overall his conference is also moving to the right.”
House Freedom Caucus members told CNN they might withhold support from McCarthy in exchange for concessions, such as rules change that would make it easier for lawmakers to oust the speaker.
On Monday evening, Freedom Caucus member Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said he wouldn’t support anyone for speaker unless they promised to end vaccine mandates in the military and to take other hardline stances. In a follow-up message on Monday, Roy said, “we need actual LEADERSHIP.”
The conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), poised to return to committee seats in a Republican majority, said Wednesday that she was traveling to Washington to meet with “everyone I can” and that there would be reckoning among Republicans.
“The civil war in the GOP is very real, and we need to fix it and get it straight and make our message one method for this country,” Greene said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast.