Can Kevin McCarthy be reappointed speaker? Loyalists push idea to nominate ousted Republican as House remains deadlocked amid deadly Hamas attack on Israel
- McCarthy said he is willing to resume his position as Speaker if the House GOP wants
- “Look, whatever the conference wants, I’ll do,” he told radio host Hugh Hewitt
Kevin McCarthy has not ruled out the idea of running for speakership again.
The ousted speaker repeatedly said it would depend on the conference whether they put him back as speaker during a press conference where he presented his foreign policy chops amid the Israel-Hamas conflict.
‘It is a decision for the conference. I will allow the conference to make any decision,’ he told reporters of a possible nomination for the speakership. “Whether I am speaker or not, I am a member of this body.”
“Look, whatever the conference wants, I’ll do,” he told radio host Hugh Hewitt Monday morning.
Moderate McCarthy loyalists have floated the prospect because it seems unlikely that either of the top candidates — Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, or Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., could get the 217 votes needed to clinch the speakership.
They pointed to the outbreak of war in Israel as evidence of the urgent need for House leadership.
“Look, whatever the conference wants, I’ll do,” he told radio host Hugh Hewitt Monday morning
Members of the leadership were briefed on the situation over the weekend, but interim speaker Patrick McHenry was unable to participate in the briefing because he was not elected to the role.
And until the speaker debacle is ironed out, no legislation to support Israel and help replenish its Iron Dome will pass.
California Republican John Duarte insisted that Democrats should allow McCarthy to be voted back into the speakership.
“What we do know is that there is no greater friend of Israel than Kevin McCarthy,” Duarte said.
“On the Democratic side, when we have that vote, anybody who is a friend of Israel should go and have a tea party or vote present and put Kevin McCarthy back in the speaker’s chair right now,” he told Fox and Friends said.
Both Scalise and Jordan are considered more conservative than McCarthy.
“We have one of our strongest allies in the world under attack, and we’re walking around with a leadership battle in the House that should never have happened,” Duarte said.
The prospect of moderate Democrats helping McCarthy back into the speakership is a long shot – they are insisting that moderate Republicans should instead help get Jeffries into the speakership.
“It’s a fun message point that has no connection to reality,” one Democratic House aide told DailyMail.com. “Never mind the fact that Republicans refuse to offer any type of concessions to Democrats, or that it’s laughable to even think about a single Republican voting for Nancy Pelosi for speaker.”
“It is the job of the majority to elect a speaker.”
In an unprecedented vote last Monday, eight Republicans voted with all Democrats to oust McCarthy. McCarthy announced after the vote that he would not run again for the speakership, but remained coy about what he would do if someone else nominated him for the role.
McCarthy shot down reports last week that he was considering leaving Congress, revealing instead that he would run again in 2024.
Both Scalise and Jordan are considered more conservative than McCarthy
“I’m not resigning, I still have a lot of work to do,” he told reporters.
“I want to keep the majority,” McCarthy said. “We’re going to expand it further.”
Meanwhile, Republicans return to Washington for a contentious week that kicks off with an all-conference meeting Monday night. On Tuesday, candidates for speaker will make their case to Republicans about why they should have the job and on Wednesday morning they are expected to vote within the conference on who should be the GOP candidate for speaker.
Democrats will unite behind Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries as their candidate for speaker, so with only a four-vote majority, Republicans will need almost their entire conference on board to get 217 votes on the House floor.