Incoming and incumbent House Republicans who represent battleground states that President Joe Biden won in the 2020 Presidential election have revealed their intentions to only support House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in his bid to become Speaker.
The group made up of 15 signees, including six incumbents and nine representative-elect, explained in the letter that they would only be supporting McCarthy.
They shared they wouldn’t be supporting any “consensus candidate” for the role of Speaker.
The letter, first reported on by Politico, clarified that they weren’t only supporting McCarthy with the Speaker role but wouldn’t be entertaining any “so-called shadow ‘consensus candidate'” regardless of how many votes it would take to elect McCarthy as Speaker.
The letter comes as McCarthy attempts to secure enough support to attain the Speakership when the 118th Congress commences next Thursday.
McCarthy needs to secure 218 votes to win the Speakership on the first vote to avoid another vote — or series of votes — which hasn’t occurred in more than a century.
However, securing 218 votes may not be possible for McCarthy, as the GOP only has a four-seat majority. The odds are stacked against the House Minority Leader since five Republican representatives have either explicitly stated or implied that they wouldn’t support him for Speakership.
The five have also shared their demands for the next Speaker, although they haven’t indicated who they want that person to be.
However, the signers believe McCarthy is the only Republican to be able to secure 218 votes.
