Kevin McCarthy not running for House speaker again
Reese Gorman Jack Birle
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Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) will not run for speaker again after being ousted from the position on Tuesday.
McCarthy will not seek to regain the speakership, two sources tell the Washington Examiner. The California Republican is set to inform a closed-door meeting of House GOP lawmakers of his decision.
MCCARTHY OUSTED IN HISTORIC VOTE TO STRIP HIM OF SPEAKERSHIP
Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), who is serving as speaker pro tempore, told the House Republican Conference he wants to have a candidate forum next Tuesday and an election for speaker on Wednesday, per a source.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) said he has not made any formal announcements about whether he will run for speaker but says that there will be “a lot of conversations” among GOP House members.
“Obviously a lot of things happened today that were not expected. There’s gonna be a lot of conversations that members will be having,” Scalise said.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) has confidence in Scalise, saying he “would make a great speaker.”
Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) said the candidate forum will allow for Republicans to have a “real contest” for the role, saying he does not know how long it will take to pick a new speaker.
“We’re going to have a real contest to see who the best person is. We will absolutely choose a speaker with 218. Now, does it take a couple of days? I don’t know. A couple hours? I don’t know. But we’re gonna have a speaker that’s chosen by the body,” Good said.
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The motion to vacate McCarthy from the speakership, spearheaded by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), saw eight Republicans join Democrats to vote to remove the sitting house speaker for the first time in history. The 216-210 vote ended McCarthy’s speakership less than nine months after it began, following 15 rounds of voting in January.
Gaetz brought the motion to vacate following weeks of threats, finally doing so after he accused McCarthy of making a “back deal” with Democrats on Ukraine funding to get a continuing resolution passed over the weekend.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.