McCarthy critics take aim at speaker hopeful’s tactics to sway votes
Juliegrace Brufke
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Conservatives are taking issue with tactics being used to sway support for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) ahead of Jan. 3’s speaker vote, with several GOP lawmakers stating that his strategy has been counterproductive to his cause.
After Republicans fell short of their anticipated red wave in November’s midterm elections, McCarthy can lose just four votes during the floor vote early next year unless his defectors opt to vote present or skip the vote to bring the threshold down from 218.
Five conservative hard-liners — former House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Bob Good (R-VA), and Ralph Norman (R-SC) — have voiced their opposition, and an additional group of seven are calling for major reforms to House rules, including the restoration of the motion to vacate the chair and a ban on leadership playing in primaries.
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As McCarthy looks to contain the defections, his allies have begun to implore such tactics as launching robocalls pushing for constituents to call on their skeptical members to back him and floated booting defectors off of committees. McCarthy consultants have also crafted and pushed pro-McCarthy members to post on social media in support of him and take aim at arguments against him.
But the approach isn’t sitting well with members on the fence, with two GOP lawmakers arguing their efforts have been “counterproductive” in shifting support.
Critics noted that conservatives’ push for changes has largely been geared toward decentralizing power away from leadership, with some arguing threats to committee assignments and accusations they hold responsibility for holding up the GOP’s agenda demonstrate their apprehension.
“l’ll say this: We had one freshman who had a call from one of the sort of leadership stooges who called this freshman and said, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna deal with you; you’re going to be hurt in committees. We’ll find someone to challenge you.’ There have been some folks down recruiting candidates against a few members who have gone public in saying they’re opposed, and they’ve got some robocalls running,” one conservative member told the Washington Examiner. “I try to stay out of some of that drama, but I’ll just say this: It ain’t helping. Right?”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who has called for significant reforms to House rules, argued that McCarthy needs to prove he is willing to push for conservative priorities, adding that while grievances have emerged from some within the conference over McCarthy, he believes a commitment to make the chamber more functional and transparent should be the most important factor.
“What I’ll say is, you know, not to rehash what I’ve said before, but I will and then I’ll extend on it, which is where I’ve been since Nov. 8 is no one has 218, someone has to earn 218 — let’s have the conversation,” he said.
“I’ve been trying to push that through a substantive, like what do we want to do to change the institutional — let’s not make it about personalities, a lot of people have, you know, baggage, right on questions about committees and political stuff and if you’re out there with [the Congressional Leadership Fund] and doing all the things you do in the political sphere directly or indirectly — there’s a lot of damage that gets done. And so there’s a lot of personal issues, and all those are relevant, but for me, I’ve been trying to say, ‘OK, what do we need to do to make this place work?’”
A second conservative member who requested anonymity balked at assertions that McCarthy is not encouraging the robocalls or aware that consultants are making calls to Democrats despite his vow not to seek Democratic support. The member argued that a Politico report indicating McCarthy confidant Frank Luntz reached out to Democrats is cause for concern.
“We’re not stupid,” the lawmaker said.
A third conservative member said that while a few constituents have called about the speaker’s race, it has done little to move the needle.
“When our staff presses them asking, ‘Well, why do you want him to go for Kevin McCarthy?’ The response is, ‘Oh, we don’t know. We were just told to say that,’” another lawmaker added.
Lawmakers said former President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and prominent conservative media figures pushing for McCarthy have also largely been ineffective.
“I certainly don’t think they’re making a difference in a way that would be beneficial for a party or for current Republican leadership — I think they’re hurting, and I think, you know, frankly, I think Trump’s kind of hurting himself by going down that road,” the first conservative lawmaker said.
Critics have also said they have “overarching trust issues” with McCarthy, with multiple members arguing that there have been instances in which they believe McCarthy has thrown some of his closest allies “under the bus.” Two senior GOP sources pointed to McCarthy voting against former Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA) to lead the House Appropriations Committee during the steering process in 2018 despite signaling support to Georgia Republicans, and his positions on leadership races in the past have given some pause.
“As it relates to trust, you get what you give,” one GOP lawmaker told the Washington Examiner.
Gaetz argued that “Kevin’s hardball tactics demonstrate why so few members trust him.”
McCarthy’s recent comments during media appearances alleging that Republicans could end up with a Democratic speaker if the GOP doesn’t rally behind him and blaming his defectors for the delays in choosing committee assignments has also sparked ire with conservatives, who argued that attacks are “disingenuous.”
“He is the one that is refusing to hold steering,” a senior GOP aide argued, adding that they view his allegations that they would hold responsibility for delays in their ability to kick-start work on their agenda as “gaslighting.”
Good added, “I think everyone is judging him based on his official capacity as leader and his performance or lack thereof as minority leader and, therefore, their trust in him to lead us or to be the best person to lead us. I think if you’re going to take the 222 members of the Republican conference and assess them based on their leadership qualities, their merits, their trustworthiness, their strength of character, and what they bring to the table to lead us, you’d get far down the list before you come up with Kevin McCarthy.
“And I’ve not had anyone make the case to me or Kevin McCarthy for speaker other than, well, he’s next in line or, gosh, we just have to be united and hope for the best or, you know, he’s raised a bunch of money,” he continued.
While McCarthy has asserted that he will not support the motion to vacate the chair, and centrist lawmakers have stated they will tank any rules package that includes the language, several conservatives said it is their “red line,” arguing it’s “necessary to hold him accountable.”
“You cannot demand more responsibility without accountability. There’s no accountability attached to the promises,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) recently said.
One senior lawmaker said agreeing to restore the motion to vacate would likely sway several members, but they’re skeptical it would be enough for McCarthy to get the gavel.
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“When we told them at the beginning that he was not going to get the votes, they were in absolute denial. This is a grieving process, right? So it’s absolute denial. And then they went into the anger mode, and there’s still anger mode out there. But then what comes next in grieving is bargaining, and they are bargaining like crazy,” the lawmaker said.
“But at some point,” they added, “there’ll be acceptance by Kevin and the members of our conference, and they will have the rational vote and it’ll be tinged with emotion, but it will be more rational, and we will get somebody who will use the rules strategically.”
McCarthy has expressed confidence in his ability to ultimately prevail in January, and the “Only Kevin” faction has voted that they will continue to back him on every ballot.
“I think we will get there, and I’m not budging off my support of Speaker McCarthy,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) told CNN.