Kevin McCarthy Warns Pelosi: ‘I’ll Be House Speaker in January’
'We will win the majority'
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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has warned House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of a big Republican win in November and another victory in January, predicting the majority party will overwhelmingly choose him as speaker.
McCarthy said he s confident that Republicans will win the net gain of more than five seats which would be required to push Pelosi out of the speaker’s chair.
“We will win the majority,” said Mr. McCarthy, 57.
“I believe I will be speaker.”
He declined to predict how many seats House Republicans will gain in November.
Electing a speaker will be one of the first votes a Republican-led House would take when Congress reconvenes in January.
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McCarthy now appears poised to easily win the gavel.
Rep. Tom Emmer of Minnesota, chairman of the House Republicans’ campaign arm, said Republicans could pick up as many as 70 seats.
But analysts believe Republicans could pick up dozens of House seats, facilitated by 23 Democrats.
McCarthy refused to forecast the size of the Republicans’ likely win.
As The Washington Times noted:
House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, confidently declared in 2020 that his party would win up to 15 additional seats in the presidential election year. He cited political analysts who said Republicans would be dragged down by President Trump’s low approval ratings. Mr. Hoyer’s prediction came true in reverse. Republicans gained 14 seats, and Democrats lost 13 seats.
“We need five seats to win the majority,” McCarthy said.
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“We want to make it much higher than that. I’m going to focus on winning every seat possible, and I’m very optimistic we are going to win the majority," he added.
The five-term lawmaker has broad support from the House Republican Conference despite divisions over his handling of a few party members labeled as “extremists.”
McCarthy raised a record $72 million in 2021 and gave much of it to House Republican candidates, many of whom he recruited.
He provided another large sum to the campaigns of vulnerable Republicans running for reelection.
Firebrand conservative Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, blasted McCarthy, saying he lacks enough votes on the far right to win the speaker’s gavel.
Greene was stripped of her committee assignments after they discovered so-called violent rhetoric directed at Democrats posted on her Facebook page.
McCarthy faced criticism for failing to rein in Greene and other House Republican lawmakers accused of extremism.
