Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is among the lawmakers who have backed McCarthy, predicting that he will hand her plum committee assignments in a GOP-led House and pursue the impeachment of President Joe Biden.
The Georgia congresswoman urged her fellow Republicans to unite behind him on Monday night. “There is no way in hell I’m going to vote to hand that gavel to Liz Cheney or anyone else Nancy Pelosi wants,” Greene said on Steve Bannon’s podcast.
But while McCarthy is expected to get enough votes to win the party’s nomination on Tuesday, the top House Republican faces a tougher road than expected after a disappointing midterm result for the GOP.
Ahead of Tuesday’s vote, some members of the House Freedom Caucus were looking to make it clear that he doesn’t have the 218 votes needed to win the speaker’s gavel when the new Congress convenes in January.
Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs announced his intention to challenge McCarthy on Monday night.
“It’s going to be tough. I mean, Kevin has raised a lot of money and done a lot of things, but this is not just about Kevin,” Biggs said on Newsmax. “I think it’s about an institutional direction and trajectory. And that’s where we’re going to see if we have enough people who agree that we need to change the trajectory of this place.”
Rep. Bob Good said he would vote for Biggs, although conceded that McCarthy is expected to prevail. “It should not be a coronation. It should be a competition,” he said.
Rep. Scott Perry, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, declined to say whether he would back McCarthy on Monday night, telling reporters only that the group’s members had a “productive” talk with him.
Meanwhile, Greene’s close ally, Rep. Matt Gaetz, dismissed the notion that McCarthy had a chance of becoming speaker.
“There are a lot of the establishment Republicans in denial, believing that Kevin McCarthy can somehow still become speaker,” he said. “What I’m here to tell you is there are definitely at least five people, actually a lot more than that, who would rather be waterboarded by Liz Cheney than vote for Kevin McCarthy for speaker of the House, and I’m one of them and so then you can kind of dispense with that.”
But Greene has called attempts to challenge McCarthy for speaker a “bad strategy” for Republicans.
“We’re looking at having a very razor-thin majority with potentially 219” seats, she said on Bannon’s podcast.
“Here’s the harsh reality, there are Republicans in our conference right now that would make a deal with the Democrats and cross over.”
Greene’s office has been contacted for comment.
