House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) on Sunday said there’s an “opportunity” to become speaker if Republicans take the House in this year’s midterm elections.
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, McCarthy was pressed on whether he would be House Speaker if Republicans take back the lower chamber later this year.
McCarthy replied that he sees an “opportunity” to become House speaker if Republicans retake control of the chamber, but that his top priority is to flip the chamber.
“That’s an opportunity. The first and foremost responsibility is to take that House back. But we’ll be prepared to govern,” McCarthy said.
Earlier in the interview, McCarthy denied that congressional Republicans are being overconfident in retaking Congress in the midterm elections.
“We’re not overconfident,” McCarthy said, before swiping at President Biden for what he characterized as “wasteful, irresponsible spending,” citing GOP grievances over inflation and the southern border.
In the past several months, McCarthy has boosted plans to target Democrats in the event that he becomes House speaker following the midterm elections.
Among those plans are some that might appeal to his conference’s far-right lawmakers as he seeks to win Freedom Caucus support for his speakership.
In an interview with Breitbart News published in January, McCarthy reiterated his threat to strip Democrats from their committee assignments if he becomes House speaker. McCarthy swiped at Democrats for, in his words, “picking and choosing” who can be on committees — a reference to efforts to boot Reps. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) from their committees after they made posts on social media musing about the execution of Democratic lawmakers.
McCarthy also took aim at Twitter in January after the social media platform permanently suspended Greene’s personal account, which the far-right lawmaker had used to falsely claim that the COVID-19 vaccines were causing people to die.
Last November, McCarthy vowed to restore Greene and Gosar’s committee assignments if Republicans take back the majority.
Watch McCarthy’s remarks below:
