Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., picked a pending victory over Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., which remains in a recount, but the revenge tour is vowing to keep pressing forward against all of those who stripped him of the gavel this past January.
"Bob Good was defeated, but the loser just can't accept it yet," "Crazy Eight" operative Brian Walsh, a top McCarthy ally, told The New York Times.
"We said there would be consequences, and we are persistent and very patient."
McCarthy's revenge tour spent more than $4 million trying to beat Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., in her primary, but the primary challenge to Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., remains – along with McCarthy allies backing ethics complaints against Mace and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., the Times reported.
"You make your bed, you sleep in it," Crane told the Times of expecting the primary challenge from McCarthy cash.
"That doesn't exactly play well anywhere in the country in a Republican primary. I won't be surprised if the swamp gets me one day. Maybe it will be next cycle. But I just remind myself it's OK. I came here to shake things up.
"Look at the bigger picture: What could that money have done to help, and not participate in a revenge tour?"
Republican Main Street Partnership President Sarah Chamberlain supports McCarthy cash in primaries.
"He raises the money; he can do with it what he likes," Chamberlain told the Times. "He was the first speaker to be ousted in a way that probably wasn't very fair to him, and it's his prerogative to handle it any way he likes."
Critics of McCarthy note often, however, his post-speaker actions only further prove he was not a voice for everyone in the House.
"He's as toxic with the Republican base of voters as Nancy Pelosi," political strategist Steve Bannon said.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.