Former Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., told Newsmax Monday that five Republican members don't have a "case" against House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in his bid to become the new House speaker.
"They haven't built the case against Kevin, and the idea of a secret candidate — Ronald Reagan's resurrection, or whoever they think it is — the case hasn't been built," Kingston said during "Spicer & Co."
"Kevin McCarthy has raised more money, recruited more candidates, and visited more districts than any other member of the Republican Party," added Kingston.
The Washington Examiner recently reported that McCarthy was confident that, "in the end," he would be elected House speaker when the floor vote takes place on Jan. 3, given the Republicans' nine-seat advantage over the Democrats.
To become speaker, McCarthy needs 218 votes in the House; and right now, there are still five GOP members holding out support — Reps. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Bob Good, R-Va., and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who heads the GOP Freedom Caucus and previously ran against McCarthy.
"Well, we're still continuing to talk, but they have not moved," McCarthy reportedly said during a recent interview with conservative host Hugh Hewitt.
"And the difficulty here is that, you know, we are the only Republican entity stopping the Biden administration. But we're also going to be the only ones that can move forward," continued McCarthy. "But it would delay everything, getting committees up and running, being able to do the things that you know we need to get done from the very beginning."
McCarthy won 85% of the vote within the new GOP House Caucus in November. Since then, he has apparently recouped 26 of the 31 members who initially voted against him, minus the aforementioned quintet of Gaetz, Biggs, Good, Rosendale, and Norman.
"It's not the way to run a railroad," Kingston said Monday. "It's almost like the minute we won the majority, some members of our caucus decided, 'Let's get the circle circular firing squad going and let's get back to what we do best, which is shooting at each other.'"
The speakership uncertainty has also held up potential GOP committee chairs from preparing for the new Congress session and setting an efficient agenda, Kingston added.
"I think they're going to [oppose McCarthy] all the way up until the swearing-in, and then the vote for speaker," said Kingston.
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