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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy overcame opposition from members of his own party to win the GOP nomination for House speaker Tuesday as his colleagues blamed him for Republicans’ weaker-than-expected showing in last week’s midterm elections.
McCarthy (R-Calif.) defeated challenger Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) by a 188-31 vote among the House Republican Conference on Tuesday, coming 30 votes short of the 218 he will need from the full House on Jan. 3 to succeed his fellow Golden Stater Nancy Pelosi — and necessitating weeks of wheeling and dealing with the holdouts.
“We’re going to have the ability to change America,” an upbeat McCarthy told reporters as he entered the closed-door meeting.
But other house Republicans, seething after the midterm results and the lack of a “red wave,” publicly broke with their leader.
Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) said at a closed-door meeting Monday that the GOP “got rolled” before announcing he would oppose McCarthy’s bid to become speaker.
“Kevin McCarthy has not done anything to earn my vote for speaker,” Good said, according to the Daily Caller.
McCarthy has little wiggle room, with Republicans expected to only achieve one or two seats more than the 218 needed to narrowly control the chamber.
Biggs, the former chair of the influential House Freedom Caucus, stepped up to challenge McCarthy, saying he wanted to take the caucus in a “different direction.”
“We have a new paradigm here, and I think the country wants a different direction from the House of Representatives,” Biggs told Newsmax Monday night.
