Top GOP Rep Tells Kevin McCarthy ‘Not so Fast’ on His Speakership Bid

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) answers questions during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on July 29, 2022. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

A top House Republican suggested House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) might not be automatically be voted in as House speaker if Republicans recapture the House of Representatives.

Rep. Andy Biggs ( R-Ariz.), the highly influential member of the House Freedom Caucus, argued that the GOP conference in the House needs to have a “serious discussion” about their leadership after Republicans gained fewer seats than they expected.

“I would say maybe not so fast” about McCarthy’s speaker bid, Biggs told the streaming program “The Absolute Truth with Emerald Robinson,” adding, “Maybe we should have a good discussion within the confines of our internal body.”

Biggs noted that voters and Republicans “were told we were going to have an incredible, incredible wave, and if that would’ve been the case, any 20, 30, 40-seat margin, anywhere in there you would say, okay, Kevin is the presumptive Republican nominee for speaker.

“But I think we need to have a serious discussion,” the Arizona lawmaker said. “He’s backpedaled on things like impeachment and, in some ways, that indicates a willingness to be weakening the oversight authority that we need to have and the leverage points we need to have in order to deal with a Democrat president.”

Other Details

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas at the Hilton Anatole on Aug. 5, 2022. (Bobby Sanchez/The Epoch Times)

Biggs also made reference to COVID-19 vaccine mandates that were largely pushed by Democrat lawmakers and elected officials.

“Our leadership didn’t leverage that to remove the [vaccine] mandates,” Biggs told the program.

McCarthy announced his candidacy for House speaker on Wednesday and claimed that flipping the chamber to Republican was “no small feat” and pointed to history. “Over the past century, Republicans had flipped the House from Democrats just four times: 1946, 1952, 1994, and 2010. Only twice did that flip occur in four years or less,” he argued.

“This was the most expensive and arguably the most competitive House midterm in America’s history,” McCarthy wrote in a letter (pdf). “Yet in a hard-fought contest, our message and our candidates prevailed, winning key seats across the country, some in districts that President Biden carried just two years ago by double digits.”

But the Freedom Caucus has enough votes to block McCarthy’s speakership bid, Biggs said.

“I don’t understand why this is just a foregone conclusion,” he said. “I think we have to have a real discussion and see how people respond to the ultimate results of this election and get a feel for his agenda and what he thinks he’s going to accomplish.”

Other than McCarthy, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) announced his bid to become the next House majority leader Wednesday.

“The American people deserve a House of Representatives that can move the agenda that was promised to them on the campaign trail,” Scalise wrote (pdf). “The American people have been clear that it is time for a new direction in this country,” he added. “I am proud to be a part of this new House Republican Majority, and am confident that we will rise to the occasion, pull together, and deliver on our bold, conservative agenda.”

The Epoch Times has contacted McCarthy’s office for comment.