Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy signaled Monday an openness to return to his post after stating firmly last week he would not run again.
Asked about whether he would be a candidate for speaker at a news conference on Capitol Hill, McCarthy said, “I’m going to allow the conference to do their work, but the one thing I would ask my conference, you have 96 percent of the conference in one place, and you’re allowing 4 percent with the Democrats playing politics that now are putting a doubt inside this body. That is wrong.”
Further, if House GOP members allow “a few individuals that love a camera more than they love the American public, we are not going to govern,” he said.
Republicans currently hold a slim 221 to 212 majority in the House.
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Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, along with seven other Republicans, joined all the House Democrats to remove McCarthy as speaker last week. The final vote was 216-210.
After the vote, McCarthy told reporters, “I will not run for speaker again. I’ll have the conference pick somebody else.”
We are winning the argument. https://t.co/B96BFUvJpG pic.twitter.com/zyhjLJ0uBS
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 8, 2023
Should Kevin McCarthy return as House speaker?
Yes: 13% (4 Votes)
No: 87% (26 Votes)
Gaetz and the others who joined him in the vote were upset about McCarthy pushing a continuing resolution through to fund the federal government until mid-November with majority Democratic support.
Gaetz posted on social media Monday that McCarthy does not have the votes needed to be re-elected speaker.
In response to GOP Rep. Mike Lawler of New York telling reporters, “A lot of people think Kevin McCarthy is the right person to lead us,” Gaetz wrote, “‘A lot of people’ < 218. Math is real. Time to move forward.”
“A lot of people” < 218
Math is real.
Time to move forward. https://t.co/diJl5GBn4k
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) October 9, 2023
Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who also voted to oust McCarthy, cited a CBS poll showing that 60 percent of Americans supported McCarthy being removed.
✅ 75% Say former Speaker was ineffective
✅ 60% of Americans support the vote
✅ 54% of conservatives support the vote https://t.co/JUfjLdZWuC— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) October 9, 2023
NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker asked Gaetz if it was responsible to remove McCarthy without a clear replacement for him standing by.
.@SpeakerMcCarthy was removed because he made multiple contradictory promises that ultimately could not be reconciled.
That led to us making a decision to move forward with someone new.
Fortunately, we have two great men running for Speaker: @Jim_Jordan and @SteveScalise! pic.twitter.com/28ipfHBrqQ
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) October 8, 2023
“Not only do we have a clear replacement, we have two,” the congressman responded.
“And by-the-way,” Gaetz continued, “if we have a Speaker Jim Jordan or a Speaker Steve Scalise at the end of the coming week, there won’t be a single Republican, sans maybe Kevin McCarthy, who doesn’t believe that we have upgraded the position.”
