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House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says he’d be “surprised” if Kevin McCarthy isn’t the next House speaker, but declines to say if he’s up to the job.
- Steny Hoyer would be ‘shocked’ if Kevin McCarthy wasn’t the next speaker
- House Democratic leader wouldn’t say if McCarthy is up to the job
- Tuesday’s election will determine the next person to preside over the House
- At least five Republican lawmakers say they plan to vote against McCarthy
- The 118th Congress begins on January 3 and will see the Republicans win a majority.
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Steny Hoyer said he would be surprised if Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was not chosen by his party to become the next House speaker, but stopped short of saying whether he is up to the task.
McCarthy’s influence in the Republican Party will be tested this week when elections are held to decide who will be the speaker of the 118th House of Congress.
It comes as a handful of House Republicans have banded together to try to stop McCarthy from running for president.
‘I’d be surprised if you don’t [win]’ Rep. Hoyer insisted on CNN’s State of the Union show Sunday morning. My expectation is that he will be the Speaker.
The new Congress will meet on Tuesday, January 3, and the Republicans will regain a majority in the lower house, but not in the Senate.
House Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer said Sunday he would be “shocked” if Kevin McCarthy was not chosen by his party to become the next House speaker.
Tuesday’s elections will determine whether McCarthy will assume the leading role in the House of Representatives in the 118th Congress, which begins Jan. 3 and in which Republicans will regain a majority.
Even as the GOP retook the House, members are seeing a split between some far-right lawmakers within the party who say there needs to be a leadership shakeup.
McCarthy, a congressman from California, is facing an election challenge from Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs.
Biggs, along with Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Bob Good of Virginia and Matt Rosendale of Montana have publicly expressed their plans to vote against McCarthy in the January 3 election.
Four of the members are inside the House Freedom Caucus with the exception of Gaetz.
Arizona Republican Party Rep. Andy Biggs has launched a candidacy against McCarthy for president, and he is joined by four other Republican lawmakers seeking to prevent McCarthy from winning.
The five lawmakers have organized to try to prevent McCarthy from getting the 218 votes needed to take the gavel from outgoing Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. They also vowed not to be individually attacked by McCarthy and said they would discuss any concessions he offers.
There are 222 Republicans in the House in the 118th Congress, which means McCarthy can only afford to lose four votes if he wants to prevail on his ticket.
Asked if McCarthy has what it takes to be Speaker, Hoyer said: “We’ll see.”
Hoyer added that if McCarthy wins the election, it is proof that he can at least work against adversity.
“Obviously, if he gets 218 votes, he has the ability to pool the votes to be the leader of the Party,” Hoyer told CNN. ‘And then it will be tested whether or not he can lead.’
‘But, you know, he’s worked pretty hard on it. He got close to the Holy Grail and had to back away. He didn’t give up, he kept going. And it seems to me that he will be the Speaker.
Hoyer says he has a good “working relationship” with McCarthy.