What I and some others had been saying prior to Matt Gaetz’s motion was that Kevin McCarthy would survive, in part, because there was no alternative. That was true as long as McCarthy was speaker, or as long as he was willing to run again for speaker, but with him removed from the picture, everyone is looking to move up, as always. Maybe there is no better alternative (which I tend to believe) or no good alternative, but, yes, there are alternatives:
HOUSE GOP LEADERSHIP SHAKEUP:
–Steve Scalise vying for speaker
–Tom Emmer eyeing majority leader
–Reschenthaler & Ferguson said to be interested in whip
–Elise Stefanik looking to move up chain as wellw/ @mkraju
— Melanie Zanona (@MZanona) October 4, 2023