Growing Number of Republicans Say They'll Only Vote for McCarthy in House Speaker Race

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) answers questions during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 09, 2020. Win McNamee/Getty Images

With just days to go before House members are slated to vote for their next speaker, a growing number of Republican lawmakers have thrown their support behind House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy amid a challenge from members of his own party.

Dozens of GOP House members associated with the Republican Main Street Caucus released a letter saying they will only vote for McCarthy for speaker, according to Chairman Dusty Johnson (R-S.C.) and vice chair Stephanie Bice (R-Okla.). About 70 Republicans are members of the Main Street Caucus.

“Members of the Main Street Caucus will hold the line. Kevin McCarthy is best prepared to lead the 118th Congress, and we are prepared to vote for him for as long as it takes,” the letter said.

They also wrote that “two proposed rules changes are problematic,” adding, “Many in the Caucus expressed strong reservations regarding lowering the threshold on the motion to vacate and on changing Steering Committee criteria to facilitate what some have called ‘all views on all committees.’ Any [Main Street] concessions in those areas would have to be met with real, tangible, and proven concessions by those blocking Kevin McCarthy’s election as Speaker.”

And third, the caucus wrote that “we won’t reward chaos” and promised the Main Street Caucus would drop proposed House rule changes if McCarthy is not quickly elected as speaker on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

Five Republicans have said they are not going to vote for McCarthy under any circumstances, throwing his bid for speaker in jeopardy as he can only afford a handful of defections. The GOP has 222 seats to Democrats’ 212, and McCarthy needs 218 votes to become speaker, while no Democrats have indicated they would vote for him.

Those five are Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Bob Good (R-Va.), Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who himself launched a bid for speaker to challenge McCarthy.

“As a group of more than 70 members committed to finding practical conservative solutions, we believe these priorities will ensure the Republican conference hits the ground running on day one of the new Congress,” the lawmakers wrote. “Americans elected a Republican Majority to provide a check and balance on the administration and to find solutions to the problems our nation is facing, we can’t do that if we don’t elect a Speaker on January 3.”

Recently, about 15 GOP lawmakers and incoming House members who were elected in districts that President Joe Biden won wrote a letter last week declaring that they will vote for McCarthy “regardless of how many votes it takes.” The letter stated that “a protracted floor fight over the Speakership will not only prevent” the House from doing any business but “will also send the wrong message to the American people at the very moment they entrusted us with governing.”

“Over the past several weeks, Speaker-designate McCarthy has embraced several conference and House rules changes to ensure the House can operate in a more open fashion,” the letter said. “While we understand these changes are intended to bring more power to each individual Member and create a better legislative process, we remain concerned that some of these changes could unintentionally yield more power to our Democrat colleagues. Nevertheless, we are willing to support these changes if, and only if doing so will bring our conference together around Speaker-designate McCarthy as our nominee for Speaker.”

The vote for speaker must occur before any other business can take place in the lower congressional chamber. It means that if McCarthy or anyone else doesn’t get enough votes, a period of extra voting must occur before a speaker is elected.

Meanwhile, McCarthy has secured the support of former President Donald Trump—perhaps the most popular figure in the Republican Party—who warned House Republicans that they should vote for him or Democrats could be handed a victory.

“Look, I think this: Kevin has worked very hard,” Trump told Breitbart last month. “He is just—it’s been exhausting. If you think, he’s been all over. I think he deserves the shot. Hopefully, he’s going to be very strong and going to be very good and he’s going to do what everybody wants.”

Trump added that “it’s a very dangerous game that’s being played. It’s a very dangerous game. Some bad things could happen.”