GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are publicly fighting over Kevin McCarthy

published 20 December 2022

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's (R-Calif.) bid to be the next speaker of the narrowly divided House is imperiled by a handful of Republicans who say they won't vote for him. Allies have started wearing "O.K." buttons — signifying "Only Kevin," not tepid support for his speakership bid — but the Never Kevin caucus has stood firm so far.

McCarthy is holding up committee assignments until after a speaker is elected, presumably as leverage over GOP holdouts, but that has caused its own problematic paralysis for the incoming Republican majority, Politico reports. It has also driven a wedge between two sophomore GOP lawmakers typically seen as allies: Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo.).

Greene has surprised some observers and many of her Freedom Caucus allies by vigorously backing McCarthy's speakership bid. Boebert said at a Turning Points USA conference in Phoenix on Monday that she won't support McCarthy unless there's a mechanism added to topple him from the speaker's chair. In her televised comments, she also mocked Greene. "I've been aligned with Marjorie and accused of believing a lot of the things that she believes in," she said. "I don't believe in this just like I don't believe in Russian space lasers, Jewish space lasers."

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Greene and Boebert may "look from the outside like MAGA twins," but "inside the House GOP, they're not quite buddy-buddy," Olivia Beavers reported at Politico in April. Privately, Republicans say Boebert "detests being tied to her Georgia colleague" and nearly came to blows with her over Greene's controversial appearance at a February event organized by white nationalist Nick Fuentes. You can read more about the Greene-Boebert relationship, and the larger tensions within the Freedom Caucus, at Politico.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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