Published
1 year agoon
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield has won his party’s nomination for speaker, fending off a challenge from conservative challenger Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona in a 188-31 vote, CNN reported Tuesday.
Multiple sources in the room revealed the secret ballot count to CNN. McCarthy only needed a simple majority to snag the Republican nomination for speaker.
While Biggs’ challenge was a longshot, the number of Republicans voting for him shows that McCarthy must win over GOP holdouts between now and January, when he will need to win a majority of the entire House.
McCarthy crisscrossed the country and donated campaign funds in support of GOP candidates for the mid-term elections, which didn’t go nearly as well as Republicans wanted.
However, the GOP is likely to narrowly win back the House of Representatives from Democrats, setting the stage for McCarthy to take the speaker’s gavel from Nancy Pelosi on Jan. 3.
Related Story: McCarthy: ‘I Want You There When Pelosi Has to Hand Me the Gavel’
McCarthy’s 20th District includes Clovis and north Fresno.
Biggs is a former chair of the House Freedom Caucus. Texas Rep. Chip Roy and South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman nominated Biggs, saying the House GOP conference needed to how the House operates.
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email
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