Ronna McDaniel, the chairwoman of the Republican National Committee has stated that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) currently seems to be quite “on track” to take a win in the currently ongoing speaker’s race.
The vote which is going to be held about who will lead the lower chamber is slated to take place on Tuesday. McCarthy has reportedly been having issues in his attempts to secure enough vote commitments to earn a simple majority that is required to take control of the speakership despite having the very strong support of a number of highly influential members of the party, such as former President Donald Trump.
While currently fighting her own fight to maintain her currently held leadership role at the head of the RNC, McDaniel acknowledged that McCarthy is currently not a surefire winner but still issued a projection of confidence in his ability.
“I wish we had it decided now. We just won the House and I think any delay in getting our agenda done is a delay the voters don’t want,” stated McDaniel as part of an interview carried out on 77 WABC Radio with John Catsimatidis that was made public on Sunday.
.@GOPChairwoman Ronna McDaniel – Seeking re-election as Chair. 2022 in review. https://t.co/ihEDODe42l
— John Catsimatidis (@JCats2013) January 1, 2023
“I think Kevin McCarthy has done a lot to elect these candidates, fund their candidacies,” she went on to say. “I think he’s on track to be the next speaker.”
Because of the fact that Republicans very narrowly were able to secure control of the House back during the November midterm elections, ending up performing very much below standard expectations, a vocal pack of defectors within the party have cropped up which could threaten the ability of McCarthy to secure the position. As the former chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) spoke up to announce that he would step up to go against McCarthy for the seat he is currently vying for, staying in the running much longer after he lost the Republican nomination for House speaker. Other members are also reaching out to make demands of McCarthy, one of which is Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who made the demand that she would not support issue support for him without an “accountability mechanism” to remove a speaker, according to sources from The Hill.
This past Friday, CNN reported that McCarthy has started to make a few concessions to a number of factions throughout the Republican conference, but he still did not have enough votes to secure his role as the new speaker. He is currently slated to host a call this evening to secure additional support, as reported by MSNBC.
