RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel says House GOP drama won’t help defeat Biden

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel cautioned House Republicans that internal battles over who will be the next House speaker are distractions from focusing on defeating President Joe Biden in next year’s elections. Republicans are seeking to retake the White House and Senate during the 2024 elections and increase their slim four-seat majority in the House.

“Anytime we’re fighting with each other, we’re taking away from our message against Joe Biden. We’re about a year out from a critical election where we have a great Senate map, we’ve got to hold the House, and we can win the White House,” McDaniel told Fox Business on Wednesday. “And the headlines today aren’t about the border, they’re not about the failure of Bidenomics, they’re not about fentanyl. It’s about Republican Party infighting. It is not good.”

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“I think every Republican right now has to wake up every day and say, ‘How does this help us beat the Democrats in November? What headline do we need today?'” she later added.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted as speaker of the House late Tuesday afternoon in a 216-210 vote in which eight Republicans joined all Democrats in passing a motion to vacate the chair. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed the motion to vacate Monday evening in retaliation against McCarthy’s alleged “backdoor” handling of a recently passed stopgap measure which averted a government shutdown.

McCarthy’s unprecedented and chaotic ouster, the first time in U.S. history that a motion to vacate has stripped a House speaker of his or her position, has dominated news headlines as several Republican leaders seek to become the next House speaker. Chief among the candidates are Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA).

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McDaniel, however, offered words of condolences and praise for McCarthy’s term leading the House GOP.

“I will say on a personal note, I’ve worked with Kevin McCarthy the past four years — you don’t get the House without Kevin McCarthy, with the recruitment that he did, with the record number of women and minority members serving in Congress,” she said. “It takes a lot of flying and a lot of fundraising and a lot of grit to do what he did to get us the House back, and I’m very sad on a personal level for my friend, Kevin McCarthy.”