McCarthy’s internal GOP enemies remain silent during speaker battle

The eight Republicans who voted with Democrats to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy have kept their cards close to their chests on who they will support for the next Speaker of the House. Rep. Nancy Mace, RS.C., offered the group’s first public endorsement — throwing her support behind Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee and an original founder of the Freedom Caucus.

The Liberal MP attended an all-conference meeting on Tuesday night wearing a white T-shirt with a red ‘A’ on it. “I’m wearing the scarlet letter after the week of just being a woman here and being demonized for my vote (to fire McCarthy),” she told reporters. Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., told DailyMail.com Wednesday morning that will also vote for Jim Jordan.

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the fiery Florida lawmaker who started the vote to oust McCarthy, tweeted Tuesday that he would pray a lot before deciding who to support. He called Jordan and Scalise “two respected and trusted men.” “You’re not getting anything from me in terms of who I’m supporting,” Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., told reporters Tuesday. “I think so,” he told DailyMail.com when asked if Republicans would rally around a candidate by Wednesday.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., also said he will pray about who he will support, telling DailyMail.com he is “not saying” who he plans to vote for. “I’m not saying, thanks for asking,” he replied. Ken Buck, R-Colo., Eli Crane and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., all declined to be asked by reporters about who they would support. Scalise, as a current member of the GOP leadership team, has seemingly garnered more traction among establishment Republicans, while Jordan is popular on the right wing of the convention.

Rep. Dan Bishop, a McCarthy foe who threatened to support his ouster but ultimately did not, now supports Jordan. He didn’t rule out supporting Scalise, but said he didn’t think the majority leader had a “crystal clear plan” to lead the conference into a tough spending battle. “Some of my concerns with Scalise are so obvious that I’m not going to say it,” Bishop told DailyMail.com. “But do we really think this institution is working so well that we should just move up the next one?”

“If you think that Congress and the Republicans in Congress have done a fantastic job over 20 years, then it would make sense,” Bishop said. “If you think there are shortages, then maybe not.” But tensions between McCarthy and Scalise are an open secret in Washington. They first boiled over publicly when conservatives were angered by McCarthy’s deal with Joe Biden on the debt ceiling.

Want more stories like this from the Daily Mail? Visit our profile page here and hit the follow button above for more of the news you need.