GOP Rep. Biggs announces bid for House Speaker, further complicating McCarthy's plans
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) may have secured the GOP nomination for the Speaker of the House, but his path to the position continues to be mired by obstacles. Despite losing to McCarthy for the GOP Conference's nomination last month, challenger Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) announced his candidacy for the speakership, threatening to upend McCarthy's plans to assume the role, CNN reports.
To secure the position, McCarthy needs at least 218 votes, meaning he can only stand to lose four votes from the GOP's 222 seats. If he cannot win 218 votes on the first ballot, the vote will continue for multiple polls until someone does, a rare outcome that hasn't happened in about a century, per CNN.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I'm running for Speaker to break the establishment," Biggs wrote on Twitter. "Kevin McCarthy was created by, elevated by, and maintained by the establishment."
Biggs' candidacy offers McCarthy's detractors, many of them part of the Freedom Caucus, an alternative to run the new House. If even a handful of Republicans decided to rally around him, he could block McCarthy's path to the speakership, throwing the party into chaos without a candidate who could win a majority vote. Thus far, at least five House Republicans have indicated they would vote against McCarthy for speaker, per The Washington Post.
-
Minnesota's legal system buckles under Trump's ICE surgeIN THE SPOTLIGHT Mass arrests and chaotic administration have pushed Twin Cities courts to the brink as lawyers and judges alike struggle to keep pace with ICE’s activity
-
Big-time money squabbles: the conflict over California’s proposed billionaire taxTalking Points Californians worth more than $1.1 billion would pay a one-time 5% tax
-
‘The West needs people’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
House ends brief shutdown, tees up ICE showdownSpeed Read Numerous Democrats joined most Republicans in voting yes
-
Democrats win House race, flip Texas Senate seatSpeed Read Christian Menefee won the special election for an open House seat in the Houston area
-
Trump sues IRS for $10B over tax record leaksSpeed Read The president is claiming ‘reputational and financial harm’ from leaks of his tax information between 2018 and 2020
-
Trump, Senate Democrats reach DHS funding dealSpeed Read The deal will fund most of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Judge slams ICE violations amid growing backlashSpeed Read ‘ICE is not a law unto itself,’ said a federal judge after the agency violated at least 96 court orders
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
