House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy will face a challenger from the Freedom Caucus, a spokesman for Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told The Daily Signal on Monday.
Biggs has not clarified whether he will be that challenger. His spokesman Matthew Tragesser would only share that “McCarthy doesn’t have the votes to become [House] speaker and he’ll be challenged.” McCarthy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Leadership elections are scheduled for Tuesday, but some conservatives and lawmakers want them postponed until control of the House has been established. On Monday, conservative leaders released a letter calling on Republican members to delay House and Senate leadership elections.
“The Republican Party needs leaders who will confidently and skillfully present a persuasive coherent vision of who we are, what we stand for, and what we will do,” the letter said. “Many current elections are still undecided. There should be no rushed leadership elections.”
“Conservative Members of the House and Senate have called for the leadership elections to be delayed,” the leaders continued. “We strongly urge both Houses of Congress to postpone the formal Leadership elections until after the December 6 runoff in Georgia and all election results are fully decided.”
If McCarthy does not agree to postponing the elections, Politico reported, conservative lawmakers have a plan to nominate Biggs for speaker to show that McCarthy doesn’t have the needed votes—and then put forward an alternative consensus candidate like Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
But Jordan spokesman Russell Dye told The Daily Signal on Monday that the congressman “looks forward to serving as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.”
“We should not vote for leadership positions before we know the results of the elections,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said in a Twitter post on Monday afternoon, adding that “Americans are demanding transformative change but Congress is too broken to provide that change.”
“Our Speaker, whoever that is, …must a) reject the status quo, lead on issues that matter to Americans, & empower House members to fight for those issues,” Roy added, noting, “No member currently has 218 & there’ll be an alternative presented. This is bigger than any individual – it’s about the country.”
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