McCarthy keeps door open to return as speaker: ‘Whatever the conference wants, I will do’

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is open to returning as speaker if the House GOP conference is unable to coalesce around his replacement.

Two Republicans are running for the post, which became vacant after a group of eight hard-liners voted with the Democrats for his unprecedented ouster. But neither has a clear path to the 217 votes needed to win the gavel.

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Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) leads the horse race for early endorsements, but many centrists balk at the idea of being led by a onetime conservative foe of House leadership. Those members prefer Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) despite his recent cancer diagnosis.

The conference will hold a candidate forum on Tuesday, with an internal election the following day. But if the party cannot unify — with only a four-seat majority, unity means near-unanimity — the process could become drawn-out and divisive.

Asked if he would entertain a run should the eight hard-liners who deposed him change their mind, McCarthy left open the possibility.

“Look, whatever the conference wants, I will do,” he told talk radio host Hugh Hewitt on his show Monday. “I think we need to be strong. I think we need to be united.”

The prospects of that happening are extremely slim. Though McCarthy loyalists far outnumber his detractors, there’s a long-running distrust by members of the Freedom Caucus who feel he broke the promises he made to them in January to win the gavel.

That has not stopped McCarthy’s allies from egging on another run, with some using the war in Israel — the House cannot move an aid bill without a speaker — as a pretext for his return.

“At a time when our strongest ally in the Middle East, the Jewish State of Israel, needs the support of the U.S. Congress, the House of Representatives remains at standstill until a new Speaker is selected,” Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) said. “For me, the next Speaker should be the one we had, who should never have been removed.”

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Hours after his removal last week, McCarthy announced he would not seek a comeback bid and would not even say if he would stay in Congress.

He ended the speculation about his future on Friday, telling reporters that he would not be stepping down early and would run for reelection to his Bakersfield, California, seat.