Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become Speaker of the House of Representatives is increasingly under threat from a small but growing group of hardline Republicans.
GOP insiders and operatives say longtime California lawmaker aide new House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) could serve as an emergency compromise candidate if the majority very thin caucus fails to rally around McCarthy in their Jan. 3 leadership vote. .
“Our relationship is on the rise,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a member of the ultraconservative House GOP Freedom Caucus, told the Post of Scalise.
Gaetz is an ardent enemy of McCarthy and insiders say he and other “hard nos” on McCarthy would gladly support Scalise in the event of a ground fight.
“No one ran against [Scalise] for the majority leader. He was unanimously elected to this position,” noted Gaetz, speaking of Scalise’s wide acceptance within the party.
The Louisiana congressman is considerably more conservative than McCarthy and reportedly once described himself as “David Duke without the baggage.” He was shot by a crazed volunteer Bernie Sanders during a GOP baseball practice in 2017.
“Scalise is a party hero. He got shot. He’s a southerner. He’s more conservative than Kevin,” a Freedom Caucus insider said.
The eight-term congressman is not running for president and officially supporting McCarthy, but in statements this week Scalise declined to rule out the role of savior.
“I’m not going to speculate. Obviously, our goal is to solve it by January 3rd. And there are a lot of conversations that everyone has had,” he said. CNN last week.
McCarthy can only afford four defections from his own party. As is customary, all House Democrats are expected to oppose him. McCarthy got a boost this week after receiving a blessing from former President Trump, who said the longtime GOP leader “deserved the shot.”
At least five members have already spoken publicly to say they are either hard no or probably no. At least a dozen other members are said to be on the fence, and several responded to Post inquiries saying they were undecided.
“I can’t be for continuing with the status quo,” said Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa,) chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. “One way or another, things will change. Either we change the way we do business here or we will change the management. Both could happen.
Perry said he’s spoken with several people interested in the job privately if McCarthy isn’t up to it. He declined to name names.
