Rep. Matt Gaetz is not ready to simply rubber stamp House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s ascension to the Speaker’s chair if, in fact, Republicans hold on and win a narrow majority.
“I prefer Ohio’s Jim Jordan. And it is not always easy for a guy from the deep south to be for someone from a Big 10 state. But I am certain that Americans didn’t hand Republicans this majority in the House just to watch the speaker’s gavel get handed from one member of the California delegation to another,” the Florida Republican said on Friday.
“With such a slim majority, we shouldn’t be starting the C-Team. We need to put our star players in a position to shine brightest so that we can attract more people to our policies and ideas,” he added.
“The policies Kevin McCarthy has pushed are as unhelpful as they are unserious. None are actually inspired by Kevin McCarthy, though many feel financially beholden to him because He is the Lebron James of special interest fundraising,” Gaetz noted further.
.@RussVought on McCarthy’s "Transition Team”:
“It is incredibly disrespectful to his members to be that presumptuous when he knows he doesn't have the votes to be Speaker of the House.
It should offend members of Congress who have a vote on this."https://t.co/9kxDo7KhFJ pic.twitter.com/5yEasrt7k4
— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) November 11, 2022
“There is a movement among some in the House Freedom Caucus to request a delay in the leadership elections, because we don’t yet know who will be a Republican member of Congress,” he said.
Kevin McCarthy:
Defended Liz Cheney when @jdanbishop first sought her ouster
Told GOP Leadership Trump should resign after J6
Kevin is FLIGHT over FIGHT when the chips are down
He is not a Speaker for these times
— Matt Gaetz (@mattgaetz) November 11, 2022
For his part, McCarthy said on Fox News he was “not concerned” about GOP lawmakers in his conference who were unhappy with him.
“Think about this. Since I’ve been leader for the last four years, we’ve only gained seats. The goal is winning the majority. We won the majority,” McCarthy continued.
“I think I accomplished the goal that we wanted to. People could have input. We want to have a very open input process. We’re going to have a smaller majority. So we’re going to find that we work together to think about what else we did,” the California Republican noted further.
“Not only did we win the majority, we beat the DCCC chair. That has not happened in 42 years,” he said.