Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) late Monday announced a run for Speaker, challenging House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in the Republican conference’s nomination to the post.
“We have a new paradigm here, and I think the country wants a different direction from the House of Representatives. And it’s a new world, and yes, I’m going to be nominated tomorrow to – to the position of Speaker of the House,” Biggs said on Newmax Monday night.
“We’ll see if we can get the job done and the votes,” Biggs said. “It’s going to be tough. I mean, Kevin – Kevin has raised a lot of money and done a lot of things. But this is not just about Kevin. I think it’s about the institutional direction and trajectory.”
The challenge from Biggs, a former chair of the House Freedom Caucus, comes as House Republicans’ expectations of a red wave crashed into a ripple in last week’s midterms. Election projections have still not yet called a majority of House seats in Republicans’ favor, but the GOP believe they will end up with a slim majority.
McCarthy needs to win a majority from House GOP members in a secret-ballot election on Tuesday to secure his conference’s nomination for the post. After that, all House members will vote on the floor on the first day of the new Congress in January, where McCarthy would need at least 218 votes to secure the Speakership, assuming all 435 members are sworn in that day.
Biggs did not step up as an alternative to McCarthy at a House GOP leadership candidate forum on Monday afternoon, according to sources in the room.
Bigg’s challenge comes as the House Freedom Caucus is pressing GOP leadership to make rules changes that, on the whole, would empower individual members and weaken the power of leadership.
His plan to challenge McCarthy, however, is not supported by all Freedom Caucus members.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) warned that Republicans in a slim majority face risks if they are not unified behind one candidate, and that a handful of moderate House Republicans could join Democrats to support a compromise Speaker candidate.
“We have to elect Kevin McCarthy,” Greene told reporters Monday. “I can’t support a challenge that will allow the Democrats to – to elect their own speaker by pulling some of ours.”
She added that she is trying to talk to her colleagues who are hesitant about supporting McCarthy to convince them to support the GOP Leader.
In a validation of those fears, Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), a moderate, told NBC News on Monday that he would theoretically vote with Democrats to support a consensus candidate if McCarthy could not get 218 votes on the floor. But Bacon later stressed to reporters that he thinks McCarthy will get to that number, and that working with Democrats is “not even a realistic scenario.”
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#BREAKING: Rep. Andy Biggs to challenge McCarthy for Speaker https://t.co/7viJ8dWCK5 pic.twitter.com/HLgKNIvEL2
— The Hill (@thehill) November 15, 2022
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