Kevin McCarthy Stands Firm in Bid for House Speaker

House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has stood firm in his bid to become speaker as conservatives have sought to block him from seeking the House’s top post.

After negotiating for weeks on a potential compromise to make McCarthy the next speaker, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), the House Freedom Caucus chairman, came out against him, believing that he would bring about the change necessary to reform the House.

McCarthy, believing he had negotiated the job in earnest with conservatives, said he had earned the post by taking back the House.

The House Republican leader spoke before the GOP Conference on Tuesday ahead of the noon speaker vote.

“I earned this job. We earned this majority, and God dammit we are going to win it today,” McCarthy reportedly told the House Republican Conference.

McCarthy also reportedly went through the rules changes he negotiated with the Freedom Caucus and claimed that they would not care if the House elected Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), the leader of House Democrats, over him.

Punchbowl News reported that in a meeting with McCarthy, Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and Perry, that they wanted their own legal entity to wage lawsuits.

“The group also told McCarthy that they don’t mind if the speaker vote goes to plurality and @RepJeffries is elected bc they’ll fight him,” Punchbowl News’s Jake Sherman wrote.

One conservative member said  McCarthy gave the best speech he or she has heard in Congress citing McCarthy’s “I’m not going anywhere goddamn it” line.

Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) said during the meeting that this speaker vote is a test of if the House Republican majority can be “functional.

“We have to make a choice today: Are we going to be the party of the radical 2%?” Cammack remarked. “Because that’s what it comes down to.”