GOP admits McCarthy Speakership not secure as leaders cut deals with the far-right: report
On CNN Wednesday, congressional correspondent Manu Raju reported that Republicans are still struggling to wrangle the votes for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to be elected Speaker when the new Republican majority comes into the House at the start of next year.
This comes after Republicans severely underperformed expectations in the 2022 midterms, where many political analysts foresaw a "red wave" that could net Republicans dozens of new seats, but where they are on track to win fewer than 10.
"On the future majority side, the House leadership fight is not settled," said anchor Alex Marquardt. "It's not a foregone conclusion that Kevin McCarthy will be Speaker. What's the latest?"
"Because of the narrow margins, Republicans are expected to have 222 seats in the new Congress," said Raju. "In order to be elected Speaker, you need 218 votes. All Democrats are expected to vote against Kevin McCarthy and vote for Hakeem Jeffries instead. So he has to expect all but four Republicans to vote for him. There are several Republicans threatening to vote against him. Some are hard nos, like Congressman Matt Gaetz, says he will not vote for him whatsoever, Andy Biggs, a congressman from Arizona, suggested that perhaps he would be a hard no as well, he ran against him in the interim Republican leadership elections, he lost the nomination for Speaker to Kevin McCarthy himself."
Ultimately, said Raju, it all comes down to whether McCarthy can lock down enough of the votes from similar hardline Republicans.
"McCarthy is trying to pick up votes one by one," said Raju. "There are members asking for certain concessions, they want more power over the leadership, key committee assignments. Allies hope they can win votes one by one and get to 218. But they don't deny it's going to be a tough slog. It can be messy. They're not denying the possibility if he doesn't get 218 votes on the first ballot, potentially it could go to a second ballot or a third."
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