McCarthy moves quickly to secure potential speakership

Key Facts

McCarthy, who sent a letter to the conference Wednesday afternoon officially declaring his bid for the speakership and asking members for their support, spoke with some potential GOP holdouts behind closed doors throughout the day, including Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the controversial conservative who was booted from her committee assignments by Democrats – and a number of Republicans – over her past incendiary rhetoric.
The hope, the source said, is that if they back a challenger to McCarthy in next week’s elections, it would force the California Republican to cut a deal in order to secure their support in the January speaker’s race when he wouldn’t be able to afford to lose more than a handful of GOP votes in a narrow Republican majority.
Moreover, McCarthy has long moved to develop a good standing with even the most rebellious forces within the Freedom Caucus and has been in talks with some members of the group about their role in a GOP majority for weeks, according to Republican sources.
McCarthy’s pitch to members, according to a source familiar, has been relatively straight forward: the GOP picked up seats two cycles in a row under his watch, and he is on the verge of delivering Republicans the majority – which will arm them subpoena power and allow them to serve as a check on the Biden administration.