CNN
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Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he would support a candidate for speaker who has the support of the Republican conference, after pleading with supporters of the Republican conference not to nominate him for speaker.
Asked who he would vote for outside his party’s candidate debate, Mr. McCarthy told reporters: “Whoever comes out of there.”
McCarthy again refuses to endorse House Majority Leader race Steve Scalise and the Attorney General jim jordan He will replace him as the speaker. But he this week put to rest previous speculation that he could be renominated, with some allies discussing the possibility of nominating him again.
He said Tuesday that he told supporters in attendance not to nominate him to chair the Republican candidate forum. “I know a lot of them want to nominate me. I said, ‘Please don’t nominate me.’ “Two people came running there. I’m not one of them.”
The House Republican Conference heard from the only two speaker candidates declared so far, Scalise of Louisiana and Jordan of Ohio, at a candidate forum Tuesday evening, and will elect a new speaker later this week. I’m planning on voting. But Republicans remain sharply divided over who should lead the party.
Scalise, who attended Tuesday’s meeting, said he was confident Republicans would begin voting to elect a new speaker on Wednesday, arguing that “we need to get Congress back to work.”
“I’ll do that tomorrow,” he said. “We’re going to elect a new chairman and get back to work for the American people. There’s a lot of work to do.”
McCarthy expected only two people would be nominated, and said House Republicans’ ability to govern going forward would be determined by how they deal with the eight Republicans who voted to remove him from office.
“It’s not just the speaker who chooses the speaker. If we continue to allow 4% of the conference to align with the Democrats in this conference when 96% of the conference wants something different, then they won’t take control. You’ll never get a hold of it,” McCarthy said.
Asked if a vote could be held to elect a chair this week, he said: “We hope that a vote will be held this week and a new chair will be elected.”
Some Scalise supporters see Mr. McCarthy’s maneuvering in the run-up to this week’s speaker vote as intended to thwart Mr. Scalise’s bid for speaker, increasing tensions between the camps. .
Although Mr. McCarthy and Mr. Scalise have maintained a friendly working relationship over the years, they have long been viewed as potential rivals. Mr. Scalise is considering challenging Mr. McCarthy for leadership in 2018, and this year, Mr. McCarthy is a candidate for chairman in January. He nominated potential allies, Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina and Rep. Garrett Graves of Louisiana. and government funding deadlines.
Mr. McHenry currently serves as interim chair.
On Monday night, the conference met for the first time since last week’s historic conference. vote to oust mccarthyBut the two-hour session, while discussing potential rule changes and grappling with the raw emotions lingering after last week’s unprecedented events, moved closer to uniting around potential speakers and the path forward. I couldn’t do that.
While the momentum for Republicans to choose a new speaker has increased, terrorist attack in israel Over the weekend, the House Republican conference remained sharply divided over how to proceed and who could garner the 217 votes needed to lead the party.
Republicans are bracing for the prospect that neither Mr. Scalise nor Mr. Jordan will receive the votes to be elected speaker, leaving the conference without a clear path forward.They also disagree about the rules the council will use to elect a new chair, but want to avoid embarrassment. 15 votes for marathon That was done for McCarthy in January.
Mariam Zuhaib/AP
Congressman Kevin McCarthy of California walks through the Capitol building on October 10, 2023 in Washington, DC.
Monday’s session also gave lawmakers an opportunity to weigh in on the issue. Eight Republicans voted to expel McCarthy. He then left the House of Commons without saying a word. Republican lawmakers have made it clear that emotions are still raw and it will take plenty of time to find an agreement after last week’s unprecedented events.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin told CNN he was not ready to endorse a candidate. He said: “I will not support anyone until we address the fact that we once again have people in Congress who could shut down this House on a whim.”
Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, called for House Republicans to convene for another week to decide on a nominee for speaker, and as he left a closed session Monday night, those in the room were left “beaten.” I was devastated,” he said.
A senior Republican, Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas, likened the session to a “scatter plot.”
“There was a very good discussion, a lot of opinions. We’re kind of a scatterplot, we’re all over the map as far as direction going forward,” Womack said. “Some of it is about rule changes, some of it is about hard feelings about what happened on Tuesday and wanting to go back and reconsider.”
Neither Scalise nor Jordan spoke at the meeting.McCarthy on Monday I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of him being re-elected. He was scheduled to be a speaker if no agreement was found, but he did not attend.
But some Republicans who voted for Mr. McCarthy made it clear Monday that they would not back out. Rep. Cory Mills, Republican of Florida, who supports Jordan, rejected the idea that Mr. McCarthy could emerge.
“One of the things we discussed today is that the only people who can really be considered are those who have already announced their nominations,” he said.
In addition to the dispute between Mr. Scalise and Mr. Jordan, the conference also disagrees over how the speaker nomination process should work, which could have a big impact on who wins.
The proposal, authored by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, would require a member to win a majority of the entire House, not just a majority of the conference, to secure the party’s nomination for speaker. This is an important change aimed at ensuring that candidates secure the nomination. Get the support you need before moving to a floor vote.
Jordan and many of his allies support this proposal. But Scalise’s supporters oppose the move, believing he can secure a majority in the chamber but acknowledging he will not receive 217 votes in the first round.
There was a movement in some parts of the conference to quickly decide on speakers. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Mike McCaul called for a new speaker to be convened by Wednesday to avoid any appearance of weakness or dysfunction during the war in Israel.
McCall noted that the House cannot pass legislation to address the crisis until a new speaker is elected.
“I have until Wednesday to call the speaker and the first bill on the floor will be my resolution condemning Hamas for these terrorist attacks in Israel,” he said.
This article and heading have been updated with additional developments.
