At fundraiser, McCarthy says it will 'be hard not to hit' Pelosi with gavel if he becomes speaker

Kevin McCarthy.
(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

During a fundraising event in Tennessee on Saturday night, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) made a crack about hitting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Main Street Nashville reporter Vivian Jones tweeted audio of McCarthy's comment, and wrote that he made the remark after he was handed an oversized gavel. Referring to Republicans winning the 2022 midterms, McCarthy said, "I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. It will be hard not to hit her with it, but I will bang it down."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

Sign up
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.