Kevin McCarthy says he’s willing to return as House speaker

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Monday that he is willing to resume serving as House speaker if enough of the Republicans who voted in favor of his ouster last week are open to his reinstatement.

“Whatever the conference wants, I will do,” McCarthy said during an interview on Hugh Hewitt’s syndicated radio program when asked about a possible return to the job. He echoed that sentiment hours later at a news conference largely focused on the Israel-Hamas war.

McCarthy made the comments as the House Republican conference prepared to meet for the first time since Tuesday, when eight Republicans joined all Democrats present in voting for McCarthy’s removal. At that point, McCarthy said he would not run for a leadership role again, saying last week: “I will not run for speaker again. I’ll have the conference pick somebody else.”

Now less than a week since McCarthy’s ouster, Congress faces a new challenge - how to respond to the violence that has erupted between Hamas and Israel over the weekend without a speaker in place. Though he’s no longer speaker, McCarthy on Monday attempted to fill the leadership void, prescribing a way forward to support Israel, which many of his allies saw as a signal that he is open to being renominated as speaker.

But many of the eight Republicans were upset with McCarthy for relying on Democratic votes to avert a government shutdown, tipping the scale to remove him from office. McCarthy on Monday defended his actions, suggesting that the state of the country would have been worse off had he not passed a budget relying on Democratic votes. Without winning back their support, it remains unclear how McCarthy could get the 217 votes to successfully regain the gavel.

“I’m a conservative [who] believes in governing in a conservative way,” he said during the news conference. “I can only think if the government was shut down right now, what would we be talking about? What would our men and women even be questioning? What would the border look like? Would people around the world, would Iran take advantage of that?”

Two other Republicans, Majority Leader Steve Scalise (La.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (Ohio), have launched bids to succeed McCarthy.

At Monday’s news conference, McCarthy pointed out that he maintained the support of “96 percent” of the members of the House Republican conference, saying the remaining 4 percent is “playing politics.”

“And now we’re putting the doubt inside this body. That is wrong,” he added.

McCarthy’s projected openness to returning to leadership comes amid genuine concerns in the GOP conference that neither Scalise or Jordan can garner the necessary 217 majority votes in the full House to become speaker.

Moderate Republicans, some of whom represent swing districts that President Biden won in 2020, remain skeptical that a Speaker Scalise or Jordan would represent their interests, given that both are extremely conservative. While both candidates are trying to assuage their concerns, moderates are now openly calling for reinstating McCarthy as speaker.

After McCarthy’s news conference Monday, Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the former speaker “is acting with class and confidence and in the best interests of America.” And fellow moderate Rep. Michael Lawler (R-N.Y.) said that he believes McCarthy should be reinstated.

“Obviously, anything’s possible in this place. But I think when I have spoken to my colleagues, the vast majority of people are angry. They’re disgusted by what happened,” Lawler told reporters Monday. “As I said, it is the single most destructive thing I’ve ever seen in politics. And it doesn’t even make sense.”

Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (R-Fla.), who is further to the right, said he hopes McCarthy reconsiders his earlier decision not to run for speaker again.

Without a full-time speaker, the House has been limited in its ability to operate. The violence that has erupted in the Middle East has underscored its limitations, as some members press for an aid package to Israel.

In his interview with Hewitt, McCarthy emphasized Congress’s need to project strength and solidarity with Israel in the midst of the conflict. He also pointed out current matters he believes would have been handled differently had he remained in leadership.

“We would have gotten more of the intel,” McCarthy said, referencing the conflict. Under his watch, the former speaker asserted, the House on Monday would have put forth a resolution “to show the world we’re united, calling around to other world leaders to come to join.”

Furthermore, McCarthy said, under his leadership, the House would be looking at what ammunition and resources should be provided to Israel, evaluating sanctions against Iran and “going after any antisemitism that is happening not just on our college campuses, but directly in Congress itself as well.”

House Republicans plan to gather Monday night in a closed meeting to discuss where the conference goes next after McCarthy’s ouster as speaker. A candidate forum is scheduled Tuesday, followed by voting among House Republicans on Wednesday.

It’s unclear when the full House might vote on a new speaker.

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Mariana Alfaro contributed to this report.