Kevin McCarthy To Run For House Speaker

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy announced Monday that he will run for speaker, vowing that if elected to the chamber’s top post he would “change the culture” of Washington and strive for the “most conservative solution” he can get.

After five years as House leader, Mr. Boehner has lost the trust and support of his party’s conservatives and will call it quits by the end of October.

He did not take questions from press, but when asked by one journalist as he was getting into his SUV if he was running for speaker, McCarthy turned and said: “When I make an announcement, I’ll make sure you’re all on the list”. The only other candidate for the position is Florida Republican Dan Webster who mustered only 12 votes running against Boehner in January. Today the speaker, as a leader of the majority party, holds the responsibility to help pass legislation supported by that party. This frustration, which is shared by a majority of my constituents, is one of the reasons why I’ve so frequently voted against leadership. He is expected to meet this week with the House Freedom Caucus, the Tuesday Group, and the Republican delegations from Pennsylvania and Texas, Politico reports. Cal State Bakersfield political science professor Mark Martinez says McCarthy has been successful because his strategy is to sit back and strategize.

The next speaker of the House of Representatives is unlikely to be any more sympathetic to the faction of anti-government Republicans that hastened John Boehner’s demise by angling to overthrow him. Congress is at risk of another shutdown this week because of a dispute over funding for Planned Parenthood, though Boehner’s resignation probably will prevent a similar standoff.

Though McCarthy is the favorite, arch-conservatives have yet to endorse him, with a few expressing skepticism that he will be sufficiently conservative.

Boehner abruptly resigned last week amid pressure from the House’s most conservative members, a situation that McCarthy will likely inherit. Let’s move forward in a thoughtful, careful manner.

Rep. Adam Schiff, a Democratic member of the committee, said McCarthy’s comments “laid bare the abusive objective of this taxpayer funded committee”.

It’s a hand-to-hand campaign, and McCarthy spent the weekend literally calling every single member of the House Republican conference, asking them what their concerns are, what they want, what they need and what he’s going to do for them.