GOP congressman on McCarthy Speaker bid: ‘He absolutely should be concerned’

One of the most conservative members of the House on Thursday said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) should be concerned about his bid to become Speaker should the GOP take control of the chamber, emphasizing he should expect a challenge from the right wing of the party. 

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), who is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox News’s Laura Ingraham that McCarthy’s only priority the past two years has seemed to be to win the majority and become Speaker “just for the sake of having the majority and Speaker.” 

Good said McCarthy has failed to fight against the agenda of President Biden, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) multiple times in the past two years. 

“He’s essentially had a two-year audition with the exclusive opportunity to earn the vote of the conference, to demonstrate he’s willing to find against the Biden-Pelosi-Schumer agenda, and he failed to do that,” Good said. 

He said there “absolutely” will be a challenge to McCarthy’s leadership bid. 

He said Republican voters have told him and other members of Congress that they do not support McCarthy for Speaker because he is not a “true conservative.” 

Good said McCarthy has not supported several conservative initiatives like requiring the House to record individual votes, trying to remove Pelosi as Speaker and blocking the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2023 when Democrats needed Republican support to pass it. 

“Time after time, he has failed to support our efforts to truly fight against the oppressive Democrat majority,” he said. 

Republicans appear to be poised to regain control of the House following the midterm elections, but their majority will likely be much narrower than originally expected as many Democrats outperformed polls. 

McCarthy will likely need almost all Republican votes in the House to become Speaker. 

Good said he and other Republicans want to change certain rules on the House floor to “empower” regular members, like allowing members of a committee to choose their own chair and requiring legislation to be supported by a majority of the Republican conference to be put forward. 

“I think there’s a whole lot of members of Congress who will be interested in being Speaker once it’s clear that Kevin McCarthy does not have the required 218 votes,” he said.