12:47 p.m. ET, October 10, 2023
McCarthy allies weigh nominating him for speaker, underscoring rigidity with Scalise
From CNN’s Melanie Zanona, Annie Grayer, Manu Raju
Former Home Speaker Kevin McCarthy holds a information convention on Monday.
Jose Luis Magana/AP
A few of Kevin McCarthy’s allies are discussing nominating him for speaker, a number of sources inform CNN, which might complicate and lengthen their course of for electing a brand new speaker given McCarthy faces lengthy odds of securing the gavel.
Allies of McCarthy say they aren’t performing on the behest or path of McCarthy. However a few of them have mentioned they are going to solely vote for him till advised in any other case. To this point, McCarthy has refused to rule out a return to the speakership or thrown his help behind one other candidate.
Some allies to Home Majority Chief Steve Scalise see the maneuvering by McCarthy’s allies as designed to hobble Scalise’s bid for speaker, which has heightened rigidity between their camps.
McCarthy and Scalise have maintained a cordial working relationship over time however have lengthy been seen as potential rivals. Scalise thought-about difficult McCarthy for chief in 2018, and this yr, McCarthy tapped his trusted allies Reps. Patrick McHenry and Garret Graves — not his high management deputies —to assist him together with his speaker’s bid in January, the debt ceiling disaster and the federal government funding deadline.
To safe the GOP’s nomination for speaker, a candidate must earn the help of 51% of the convention. However there is a push to alter the foundations to boost the brink to 217 Republicans — the variety of votes anticipated to be wanted on the ground.
Scalise’s allies are against such a proposal, which they argue can be altering their election guidelines on the eleventh hour.
Proponents of the concept, which incorporates Jordan, argue they should work out their variations behind closed doorways earlier than they head to the ground, as a way to keep away from one other public show of dysfunction.
