Kevin McCarthy’s speaker bid is rapidly accelerating toward chaos – By Eric Ting (SFGate) / Dec 5, 2022
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become House speaker was thrown into even greater peril Tuesday when Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs announced he will challenge McCarthy on the House floor during the Jan. 3 vote.
Biggs previously lost to McCarthy in a closed-door GOP caucus vote 188-31. This new challenge is also likely to come up short, but, critically, it will probably prevent McCarthy from becoming House speaker on the first ballot cast Jan. 3. When the entire House convenes, McCarthy will need 218 votes (or a majority of the total number of people who show up) to become speaker of the House.
The California Republican’s math problem is well documented: He can only afford four GOP defections, and there are five members who say they will not vote for him. Biggs officially soliciting votes will likely cause McCarthy to come up short of 218 on the first ballot. Members are free to vote for whoever they want; in 2021, two moderate Democrats — Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania and Jared Golden of Maine — refused to vote for Nancy Pelosi and instead cast protest votes for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Tammy Duckworth (neither of whom sought the speakership), respectively.
