McCarthy Says No to Potential Chamber of Commerce Endorsement, Claiming ‘They’ve Sold Out’

House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at a press conference in the Capitol in Washington on Jan. 9, 2020. Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told Fox News on Thursday he does not want an endorsement from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (USCC) after reports that the world’s largest business organization is planning to back nearly two dozen freshman Democrats.

While the USCC has yet to release its full list of official endorsements for this election cycle, Neil Bradley, the Chamber’s executive vice president, confirmed in a tweet that the organization was backing 23 first-term Democrats. He explained the USCC selects candidates in a non-partisan fashion, based on scorecards.

“While some focus on @USChamber endorsing 23 freshmen Ds, take note, Chamber also just endorsed GOP challengers to 4 freshmen Ds b/c they were below 70 [percent] on scorecard & challengers earned endorsement,” he wrote. Bradley also released a list of 29 Republican freshmen the USCC is endorsing.

McCarthy claimed the USCC’s endorsements of Democrats was hypocritical.

“I don’t want the U.S. Chamber’s endorsement because they have sold out,” McCarthy said, in an interview with Lou Dobbs. “It is hypocrisy that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce would endorse the Democrats that are part of this socialist agenda that is driving this country out, and it’s fighting this president.”

In a recent interview with The Hill, Bradley further explained the USCC’s rationale for its decisions to back certain candidates.

“The Chamber conducts its endorsements of incumbents based on the voting record the incumbent has and how often they voted on the Chamber’s priorities,” Bradley, the Chamber’s executive vice president and chief policy officer, told The Hill in a recent interview.

In rejecting the USCC’s prospective support, McCarthy cited partisan efforts to impeach President Donald Trump, and touted the Republican leader’s track record on policy.

“Remember, these are the people who voted for impeachment, when this president has done so much for this nation,” McCarthy told Dobbs. “You know it, Lou. You show it every single day, built us the strongest economy ever, rebuilt our military, got criminal justice reform. And he’s going to do all of this again.”

McCarthy’s remarks come as the battle for the White House heats up between Trump and Democrat nominee Joe Biden, who the California Republican accused in his interview on Fox News of “hiding in Delaware, not willing to campaign to be the leader of the free world.”

Biden, meanwhile, is set to criticize Trump’s stewardship of the pandemic-ravaged economy on Friday as both campaigns kick into high gear with less than two months to go before Americans go to the polls to determine who will lead the country through a challenging period of economic recovery.

The Democrat challenger will deliver remarks from his home base of Wilmington, Delaware, after his busiest campaign week in months.

Both campaigns have launched new ad blitzes in the swing states of North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, with Biden hammering Trump’s handling of the pandemic and Trump hewing to his “law and order” theme criticizing recent riots and protest-related violence.