Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., told Newsmax Friday that people he talked with during the midterm campaign want to see new GOP leadership in Congress.
"What I would tell you is my constituents, and people I've talked to all over the country, in the hundreds of spots that I spoke to, in hundreds of groups I spoke to, always had a common thing; 'Will you give us new leadership?'" Biggs said during "Spicer & Co." Friday.
"And if we're going to set the stage for 2024, we got to do something different. Unfortunately, that means that we need to change the speaker or our leader [of] the Republicans in Congress."
Biggs tried unsuccessfully to take the House leadership position away from Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who retained the role and will likely become the new Speaker of the House when the new GOP majority takes over Jan. 3, but he will still need the minimum, slim, 218-vote majority to officially take the job.
McCarthy won the internal Republican conference vote earlier this week although 31 Republican members voted against him, some of those voting for Biggs.
After winning the slight 3-seat majority in the House during the midterm elections, Republicans will now take the speakership over from outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who announced this week that she is stepping away from a leadership role in the Democratic House caucus.
Biggs said there are some GOP members that will still vote against McCarthy, and that he does not have much of a margin for error with the 3-vote majority.
"I do know he's working," Biggs said. "He's working to try to shore up his votes and doing what he can to try to woo people to him."
Biggs said that while both he and McCarthy may not end up as the new House Speaker, there are other GOP members that could take the reigns if McCarthy can't pull out the needed votes.
"To say that only Kevin [McCarthy] is the only guy who could be Speaker, I think, is just an absolute understatement and undervaluation of so many great members that we have [that are] skilled and capable," he said. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, "And would do a great job. Mike Johnson would do a good job. There are others who might come forward. I'm not meaning to put a target on these guys back, I'm just trying to say that this conference actually has a lot of people who are skilled and capable, and they will come forward. There are still two months to go, and I don't think [the House GOP is] as fractured as you might think."
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