House Republican members gathered behind closed doors Monday evening for the first time this week since eight of their own joined a united House Democratic caucus last Tuesday to oust Kevin McCarthy from the speakership. Monday’s meeting was largely an unproductive vent session, sources tell National Review, where members aired grievances about the state of the now leaderless and legislatively paralyzed GOP.
Pressure to elect a new speaker has only increased in recent days after the terrorist group Hamas launched a cross-border attack on Israel over the weekend. As the chaos continues to unfold on Capitol Hill, there’s a push from some members to institute a rules change that would require a speaker candidate to win votes from 217 House GOP members in conference before the entire House convenes in the chamber for an official floor vote. The idea is to avoid a repeat of McCarthy’s brutal 15-ballot floor fight for the speaker back in January.
The House GOP conference is scheduled to convene again at 5 P.M. Tuesday in the Ways and Means Committee room for an official candidate forum to elect a new speaker. An internal House GOP vote is currently slated for Wednesday, though neither House Majority Leader Steve Scalise nor House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan — the only formally declared candidates at this stage — has emerged as a clear frontrunner. And it’s highly possible neither of them will.
What’s more, some McCarthy allies are also suggesting they will renominate the California Republican for his old job — a move that could drag this process out even longer. McCarthy, who initially said he would not run again for speaker, is now cracking the door open to a potential rerun. “Look, the conference has to make that decision,” McCarthy told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday.
But those who already voted for his ouster are not backing down.
“The most popular thing Congress has done since Kevin McCarthy became speaker was vacate him. The swamp wants him, the American people don’t. I’m on the right side of history,” Representative Nancy Mace (R., S.C.) told National Review on Monday. The South Carolina Republican pointed to a CBS News poll suggesting that McCarthy’s removal is popular with most Americans.
Sources close to other no-vote members say that after making such a big spectacle of siding with Democrats to remove McCarthy, the chances they’ll suddenly unite behind him are slim to none. But then again, stranger things have happened on Capitol Hill . . .