McCarthy Has Earned the House Speakership | Opinion

The effort by a handful of unhappy Republicans to commandeer the rest of the U.S. House Republican Conference is nothing new.

I faced similar efforts twice—in 1995 and 1997. Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan dealt with similar eruptions.

The record for this kind of struggle was set in 1855, when Nathaniel Banks was chosen after 133 ballots—the longest speaker election in House history. That agonizing fight took two months of voting. Imagine the C-SPAN audience it would have generated.

Now, we have a new struggle between speaker-designate Kevin McCarthy and the handful of members who are trying to take advantage of the narrow Republican majority to get their way. It leaves me with a few questions.

I have been reading the news accounts and talking with people in the House, and I frankly can't figure out what the dissenters' ultimate goal is.

They are trying to exploit the vulnerability of their House Republican colleagues to get what they want—even if it is not what the rest of the conference wants. They are not just shaking down McCarthy, they are shaking down fellow House members who voted for him.

Remember that when members were asked on Nov. 15 to choose between McCarthy and Rep. Andy Biggs, the House Republican Conference voted 188 to 31 for McCarthy. That is an 85 percent majority. In most elections, that's considered decisive.

In effect, by threatening not to support McCarthy for House speaker, a small band of opportunists is signaling to its colleagues that any willful group can hold the entire majority ransom over any issue it wants. This is a formula for disaster and would make governing impossible.

If McCarthy and the House GOP leadership caved to this first group, what would they do when the second, third, and fourth groups showed up with their lists of demands? If the hardline conservatives can blackmail the conference, then so can the moderates, or any regional group (Californians, New Yorkers, Floridians, Ohioans, or Texans).

No one has done more than McCarthy to earn the speakership. He has campaigned more to create a Republican majority than anyone since Boehner in 2010. Since I spent 16 years working to grow the first House GOP majority in 40 years, I have a serious bias toward leaders who earn that position over members who just want it.

Let's compare McCarthy's efforts to earn the speakership to those of his competitor in the November conference, Rep. Biggs of Arizona.

Set aside the $500 million McCarthy and his allies raised during the 2022 campaign cycle. Some of his critics seem to think that effort doesn't count (it should) because he had the power of the conference (and they don't).

Remember McCarthy's amazing recruiting and support in the 2020 cycle. He shocked the experts who expected the House Republicans to lose 25 seats. Thanks to his leadership, Republicans gained 14 seats. That was a swing of 39 seats from the predictions.

McCarthy has been the most aggressive recruiter in the party's history. He has found and pulled in a historic number of new members—and significantly broadened the GOP.

In the 2020 cycle, the House GOP had 228 female candidates. By the 2022 cycle this had grown to more than 250 female candidates, as well as more than 220 minority candidates, and more than 120 veterans. McCarthy's commitment to a broader, more diverse, and open GOP is being translated into reality.

McCarthy's travel schedule reflected the depth of his personal commitment to electing a House GOP majority. In the 2022 cycle, he traveled across the country to campaign for his fellow Republicans. That is what earning the speakership looks like. Without McCarthy's effort, we might not have seen Jen Kiggans, Mike Lawler, Juan Ciscomani, Tom Kean, or many others joining the new Congress.

These are just a few examples. Dozens of other campaigns were helped by McCarthy's leadership. Thanks to the leader's constant hard work, House Republicans gained seats in 2020 (the Senate GOP lost three seats) and nine seats in 2022 (the Senate GOP lost one seat).

And while McCarthy has been leading these historic recruitment and campaigning efforts, he's also been leading in the Capitol.

McCarthy united Republicans against the Democrats' impeachment efforts and January 6 show trials (putting Jim Jordan on the intelligence committee to fight them directly). Members of the military are no longer under Joe Biden's draconian vaccine mandates. Thanks to McCarthy, Reps. Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, and Ilhan Omar will not be serving on major committees after their repeated lies to the American people. He's made clear that he's going to stop runaway spending—and he's willing to use the debt ceiling to do so. And he personally argued against Biden's spending agenda for eight and a half hours on the House floor.

Perhaps most importantly—and the greatest indication that he deserves the speakership—McCarthy has brought together the largest Republican coalition of any speaker in modern history. Apart from one small group, Republicans are with him.

In the spirit of fairness and debate, we asked Rep. Biggs' office: "Would you please let us know what all Rep. Biggs did this cycle to help get other Republicans elected (campaigning, fundraising, etc.)?"

Here's his response to us in full:

When serving as Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC), the largest group of conservatives in Congress, I raised funds and campaigned for my colleagues throughout the country.

Even as the former chair of the HFC, I worked to raise funds and campaign for my HFC colleagues.

As a leader in Arizona, though not even holding the highest office in Arizona nor acting as the leader of the Arizona Republican Party, I undertook a significant role in working to get all Arizona Republicans elected.

It is almost unusual to claim that a person who has been in Republican leadership for twelve years and has had access to the fundraising apparatus of the national party, should be rewarded with the office of Speaker of the House for raising more dollars than a rank-and-file member. Of course, we would expect Mr. McCarthy to use his access to the special interest fundraising lists to raise more dollars than anyone else.

I also released a platform, the America First Contract, that offers planks of an affirmative Republican plan including legislation, how to use leverage against the Biden Administration, and a partial list of investigations and oversight. That plan was released many months before the election.

Americans have asserted a desire to change the path that we are on. It may be uncomfortable and seem difficult, but without a change, we will persist on a suboptimal path. We need to change the status quo, and that means changing our leader.

Constituents can decide whether opportunism tops hard work and leadership to earn the speakership. They should let representatives in the House GOP know their feelings.

For more commentary from Newt Gingrich, visit Gingrich360.com.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.