9 Republicans Oppose McCarthy in an Open Letter Two Days before the House Speaker vote

Nine House Republicans issued a strong warning to Kevin McCarthy (R.CA), that the House Minority Leader would not be elected to the position. McCarthy will need 218 votes. But the GOP has only 222 seats. A defection of five votes would keep him from winning the position.

Representatives Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Chip Roy of Texas, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Andy Harris of Maryland, and Andrew Clyde of Georgia, joined Representative-elects Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, and Eli Crane of Arizona to write the open letter on January 1, the day after McCarthy wrote a letter titled “Restoring the People’s House and Ending Business as Usual,” In which he promised to increase the efforts of House Republicans.

The House has 434 members. There is one vacancy following the death of Rep. Donald McEachin (D.VA). Some may not be there; others may vote. “present,” This would mean that their vote wouldn’t be included in the total. This would result in a lower total than 434 which would then mean that 218 votes are needed to win the speakership. Additionally, the representative-elects are not members of the House until they are sworn in by the speaker, and thus their prospective votes may not matter.

“Mr. McCarthy’s title, ‘Restoring the People’s House and Ending Business as Usual,” is a welcome and telling admission of the longstanding and deep dysfunction of the House of Representatives and statement of aspiration to begin to set it right in the 118th Congress,” the nine Republicans statedBefore warning “Regrettably, however, despite some progress achieved, Mr.McCarthy’s statement comes almost impossibly late to address continued deficiencies ahead of the opening of the 118th Congress on January 3rd.”

“At this stage, it cannot be a surprise that expressions of vague hopes reflected in far too many of the crucial points still under debate are insufficient,” They were charged. “This is especially true with respect to Mr. McCarthy’s candidacy for speaker because the times call for radical departure from the status quo — not a continuation of past, and ongoing, Republican failures. For someone with a 14-year presence in senior House Republican leadership, Mr. McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure.”

“Thus far, there continue to be missing specific commitments with respect to virtually every component of our entreaties, and thus, no means to measure whether promises are kept or broken,” They went on. “Moreover, some in the Republican conference have expressed that absent universal support for Mr. McCarthy, they would reject even the progress made to date regarding rules and changes to bill text availability, single subject and germaneness requirements, and other structural changes for the good of the body and every member.”

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