Republicans are hyping up a non-House member candidate that they claim to have drafted to run against Kevin McCarthy.
Video of Rep. Ralph Norman:
Rep. Ralph Norman, who opposes McCarthy for Speaker, says the renegade Republicans have a secret candidate to run against him who is not a House member: “It will be apparent in the coming weeks who that person will be. I will tell you, it will be interesting.” pic.twitter.com/anD60jvNky
— Ron Filipkowski ?? (@RonFilipkowski) December 1, 2022
Norman said, “I’ll tell your viewers also that an outside member, you do not have to be a sitting member of Congress to serve. It will be apparent in the coming weeks who that person will be, and I will tell you it will be interesting if everything plays out.”
My first thought was that they are going to try to bring back Newt Gingrich, and the usual grifty suspects popped up like Sarah Palin and Donald Trump, but those are two people who don’t want to work, and being speaker requires both showing up for the job and working.
One name that is a former member, and a Freedom Caucus OG, is former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Suppose Freedom Caucus Republicans are serious about bringing in an outside challenger for McCarthy. In that case, the door could be wide open for moderate Democrats and Republicans to form a coalition to name their own speaker.
The right sounds like they are ready to go to war to deny Kevin McCarthy the speakership, and if they follow through on their threat, things will get crazy to start 2023.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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