House Republicans are looking for potential candidates for the next speaker of the House besides Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in the event he is unable to obtain enough support to win the post in the next Congress.
"If somebody were to come out now, and we didn't deliver enough votes to stop Mr. McCarthy, that there would be a real potential for blowback," Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told The Hill.
Biggs, the former chair of the House Freedom Caucus, has launched his own bid to become speaker, saying in a tweet that he's running "to break the establishment," and claiming that "Kevin McCarthy was created by, elevated by, and maintained by the establishment."
Biggs added to the Hill on Monday, "They want to be very careful. So I think I think people are interested. They've expressed it to some of us … I think people are being wary."
Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., recently told Fox News that multiple people have come forward, in private, to put themselves forward as a candidate for speaker if McCarthy cannot find enough support. He also said there are probably about 20 House Republicans that are "hard no's" on McCarthy becoming speaker.
He later told conservative radio host John Fredericks: "We're talking about who the other candidates are, who can get into it. Again, we're not going to get it publicly throw those names out there because then the disinformation campaign is directed towards them, then the retaliatory efforts go towards them."
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told reporters recently that Republicans have "had preliminary talks with the Democrats" in case the GOP cannot find a consensus candidate for speaker.
"If we have multiple, multiple votes, and they're not willing to support what the far majority of the conference wants to do, we're not going to be held hostage by them."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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