McCarthy Confident About Speaker Bid Even as Reformers in Both Parties Seek Rules Changes
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s announcement that he’ll kick three far-left Democrats off committees if he’s elected speaker of the House is a key step in the California Republican’s drive to gain enough votes to hold the most powerful gavel in the nation’s Capitol.
With four seats still to be decided from the 2022 midterm elections, Republicans will have at least 219, thus ensuring their control of the House of Representatives when the 118th Congress convenes on Jan. 3, 2023.
But to become House speaker requires a minimum of 218 votes that day, and they can come from members of either political party. In the increasingly fractious Republican conference, McCarthy may not be a shoo-in to succeed the current speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)….