October 10, 2023 – Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise run to replace Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker

Rep. Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters as House Republicans hold a closed-door forum to hear from the candidates for speaker of the House on Tuesday, October 10, 2023.

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who left the GOP candidate forum just as it was beginning, said he will support whichever candidate for speaker gets the Republican conference’s support.

Asked who he would vote for, McCarthy said “whoever comes out of there,” as he stood outside of the party’s candidate forum.

The California Republican said he believed the House should not begin voting on a speaker until a GOP candidate has the votes needed to win.

“The one thing I see is, we went 15 rounds on the floor. I think of where the world is today, they shouldn’t come out of there until they decide that they have enough votes for whoever they bring to the floor can become speaker,” McCarthy said.

He said that he told his allies in the room not to nominate him for speaker during the GOP candidate forum.

“I know a lot of them want to nominate me, I told them ‘please do not nominate me,’” McCarthy said. He noted: “I haven’t endorsed anyone. I’ll let the conference decide.”

“There are two people running in there. I’m not one of them,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju. 

McCarthy said he only expected two members to be nominated, and how they deal with the eight Republicans who voted to oust him will determine if House Republicans are able to govern going forward.

“It’s more than selecting a speaker. If this conference continues to allow 4% of the conference to partner with Democrats when 96% of the conference wants something else, they will never lead,” McCarthy said.

Asked whether they could vote on a speaker this week, McCarthy said, “I expect there to be a vote and elect a new speaker this week.”

He emphasized they need to choose a new speaker quickly so that the House can start moving to help Israel. 

“The talk today is we have a job in there, but more importantly, we have a job to do something right now. There is a crisis in the world, there is a void of leadership, we need to stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel,” McCarthy said.

McCarthy noted that he would not support linking aid to Israel to funding for Ukraine. CNN reported on Monday that the Biden administration and congressional Democrats were weighing tying legislation for additional military support for Israel with military assistance for Ukraine, setting up a showdown with congressional Republicans opposed to helping Ukraine.

“I don’t – to me, when you ask that question, you think it’s some kind of game to play. I think right now, Israel was just attacked, I would put Israel’s supplemental on the table, on the floor right now. If I was still speaker, I would have laid out the five plans, and we’d be voting today,” he said.