House Republicans scramble to find a new leader amid speaker’s race chaos

Endlessly divided, House Republicans pleaded with Rep. Paul Ryan on Friday to rescue them from their damaging leadership vacuum.

Trump even claimed he helped push California Rep. Kevin McCarthy out of the race for House speaker this week, a shocking pullback by a lawmaker seen as the heir apparent.

During a closed-door meeting with Texas Republicans last week when he was still a candidate for speaker, McCarthy was confronted “point blank” with a question about whether he carried on an affair with a fellow member of Congress, Rep. Mike McCaul told CNN.

Ryan Friday morning declined to say where he stands.

McCarthy broke the news of his withdrawal to his Republican colleagues hours later, citing his inability to reach the 218 votes necessary to secure the speakership. “But he’s got to decide”.

“It was only going to get worse”, McCarthy said in an interview published Thursday night by The Wall Street Journal.

“I have no idea what anybody does up here after 5 o’clock”, Jones told a reporter. With no ill-will towards Upton, he went over to sit next to his Wisconsin GOP colleague, Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner for a strategic reason.

Why not? Possible reasons include the presidential ambitions he may well still harbor.

And on the House floor, the talk about him becoming speaker was unavoidable – although he tried.

And while Democrats have demographic advantages in the presidential race, given their strength with Hispanics, blacks and younger Americans, voters may simply prefer a change rather than giving the party a third straight term in the White House.

Yet it’s telling that Ryan, a budget expert and the GOP’s vice presidential pick in 2012, has so far said he doesn’t want the job. “Paul has a driving passion to get America back on a path of growth and opportunity”, he added. “With Paul, it’s not just words, it’s in his heart and soul”.

Under the leadership of Boehner, an Ohio Republican who relied on McCarthy as an ally, Republicans stumbled into a 16-day government shutdown in 2013 and waged a debt-limit standoff with Obama that brought the country to the brink of default in 2011, leading to the United States’ first-ever debt rating downgrade.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Jolted by political lighting for the second time in two weeks, House Republicans are staring at turmoil and uncertainty after Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s astonishing decision to abandon his campaign to become the chamber’s next speaker.

Indeed a few in the hardline House Freedom Caucus, the faction of 30-plus conservatives responsible for causing much of the House’s disarray, were already registering their disapproval of Ryan.

Boehner said he would remain in his job until a new speaker was installed, an ironic effect considering conservatives’ desire to shove him out the door.

“I think he has the same problems” as Boehner and McCarthy, said Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, a Freedom Caucus member. A McCarthy supporter, he said he has “a clear idea of the qualities a leader will need” to unite Republicans.

“Paul has earned a great deal of credibility, especially on fiscal issues”, said Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina.

“I think our conference will come together and unify”.

But he has also shown a pragmatic style of governing, cutting deals with top Democrats, such as Sen.

Washington (CNN)Rep. Paul Ryan has repeatedly indicated he is not running for speaker of the House, even as heavy hitters – including retiring Speaker John Boehner – urge him to reconsider. This Republican demanded anonymity to discuss private considerations.

So with all of this pressure and support from his party, why isn’t Ryan jumping at the chance?

In the unruly U.S. House, Republicans enjoy a near-historic majority, yet deep divisions between ultra-conservatives and more traditional GOP lawmakers have left them at a loss over who should be in charge.