McCarthy's decision has GOP in turmoil
WASHINGTON — Jolted by political lightning for the second time in two weeks, House Republicans are staring at turmoil and uncertainty after Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s astonishing decision to abandon his campaign to become the chamber’s next speaker.
GOP lawmakers, who lately have acted more like feuding relatives than a unified party, were meeting today to discuss their next move. On Thursday, Republicans munching barbecue at a closed-door meeting where they seemed ready to coronate McCarthy as their candidate for speaker were aghast when the Californian rose and told them he wouldn’t seek the job.
Facing opposition from a band of hard-right conservatives, some McCarthy supporters said he concluded he would have fallen short of the 218 votes needed when the full House formally elects the speaker. Others said he could have won but GOP lawmakers backing him would have infuriated conservative constituents back home, jeopardizing their own careers.
“It was only going to get worse,” McCarthy said in an interview published Thursday night by The Wall Street Journal. He added, “This was for the good of the team.”
McCarthy’s announcement leaves the race to succeed the departing Speaker John Boehner wide open. The Ohio Republican delivered his own shocker on Sept. 25 when he said he would retire from Congress Oct. 30.
“Two people now have taken themselves out of the running,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla. “And I hope we will have candidate who can lift up our party.”
Boehner said he would remain in his job until a new speaker was installed, an ironic consequence considering conservatives’ desire to shove him out the door. That election was set for Oct. 29, but its date is now uncertain.
Attempting to calm the waters, 19 Republicans including several committee chairs wrote GOP lawmakers that they shouldn’t pick a speaker until agreeing on “a shared set of goals and governing vision that benefits the nation and our constituents.”
McCarthy had two rivals for the post, Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Daniel Webster, R-Fla. Neither had broad backing among the House’s 247 Republicans.
Several other potential candidates surfaced. Chief among them was Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., the GOP’s 2012 vice presidential pick. Boehner and McCarthy were pressing him to seek the job.
At midday, Ryan, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said he was uninterested in the top post. With pressure mounting, he later declined to flatly rule out a run.
The tumult was escalating as the GOP-run Congress hurtled toward showdowns with President Barack Obama over spending and borrowing.
If not resolved, those face-offs could result in a partial government shutdown or an unprecedented federal default.
