🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer is relishing GOP Representative Kevin McCarthy's repeated failure to secure the votes needed to become the next speaker of the House.
Loomer said during a Wednesday appearance on Roger Stone's streaming program The Stone Zone that she had sent the California Republican a revenge text that told him "payback is a b****" after he failed to win three separate votes on the previous night.
Loomer has run two failed GOP campaigns for a U.S. House seat in Florida, most recently being defeated last year at the primary stage by McCarthy-backed incumbent Representative Daniel Webster.
"Payback is definitely what we call a b****," Loomer told Stone, in a clip shared to Twitter by former federal prosecutor Ron Filipkowski. "It's funny, because I actually have Kevin McCarthy's cell phone number. And that's exactly what I texted him last night."
"I'm sure he had a very rough day yesterday after losing his bid for speaker three times in a row," she added with a chuckle. "And being humiliated and rejected in front of the entire country."
FL congressional candidate Laura Loomer said she texted McCarthy last night: “Payback is a bitch,” because he had used PAC money to defeat her primary challenge to Daniel Webster. She laughs that he was “humiliated & rejected in front of the entire country.” pic.twitter.com/spC6YT5jqX
— Ron Filipkowski ?? (@RonFilipkowski) January 4, 2023
Loomer said in a post on former President Donald Trump's Truth Social earlier Wednesday that she had just "arrived in Washington, DC to help [Kevin McCarthy] remove his belongings from the Speaker's Office in the Capitol."
The self-described "proud Islamophobe" and white nationalist said that she would be willing to help McCarthy save "money on movers since he spent all of our money in Ukraine."
Other far-right Republicans have accused McCarthy of "squatting" in the speaker's office due to him apparently moving his belongings into the office prematurely.
On Tuesday, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida penned a letter on the matter to Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton, demanding an explanation of the "basis in law" that allows McCarthy to occupy the office.
Loomer promised to help "primary" Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a far-right Republican who is backing McCarthy's bid, on the same day.
In a tweet, Loomer declared herself a "#NeverKevin" Republican and accused Greene of hitching "her wagon to McCarthy because she doesn't have a mind of her own."
"And now she can't backtrack. She wanted to be 'GirlBoss,'" added Loomer. "In 2024, we will primary everyone who voted for McCarthy for Speaker."
MTG hooked her wagon to McCarthy because she doesn’t have a mind of her own, & the stench will follow her for the rest of her career.
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) January 4, 2023
And now she can’t backtrack. She wanted to be “GirlBoss”.
In 2024, we will primary everyone who voted for McCarthy for Speaker.
☠️☠️#NeverKevin https://t.co/PfEJWP147q
After losing her primary election in August to Webster by a 51-44 percent margin, a tearful Loomer insisted that she was the true "winner" and claimed without evidence that she had been robbed of victory by "big-tech election interference."
Loomer, who has endorsed Trump's false claims of a "stolen" 2020 presidential election, also denounced the "feckless, cowardly Republican Party" for "corruption" while refusing to concede.
Newsweek has reached out to McCarthy's office for comment.
About the writer
Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more