WASHINGTON—Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy unexpectedly dropped out of the race to become speaker Thursday, plunging House Republicans into chaos and extending the struggles that have racked the party for years.
The California Republican, who will remain in the party’s No. 2 leadership post, faced opposition from conservatives itching to use hardball tactics against President Barack Obama and Democrats. They have clashed repeatedly with other GOP lawmakers willing to make concessions to keep the government running smoothly, and pledged to block Mr. McCarthy from being elected as speaker.
His withdrawal leaves a leadership vacuum that Republicans were scrambling to fill. Many said they hoped to persuade Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) to run for the post, even after Mr. Ryan declined for a second time on Thursday. “He’s really the only one that can do the job,” Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) said. “Most of the members know that that’s really our only path forward at this point.”
If Mr. Ryan sticks to his decision not to run, lawmakers said they expected Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) to remain in that post beyond his intended Oct. 30 resignation, possibly through year-end.
In a shock to Capitol Hill Thursday, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said he was dropping out of the race for Speaker to allow for a “new face.” Photo: AP
House Republicans will meet Friday morning in an effort to find their footing before breaking for a one-week Columbus Day recess—and as other legislative deadlines approach. Most pressing, the Treasury Department has said Congress must raise the federal government’s borrowing limit by Nov. 5 so that it can continue to pay bills on time. Lawmakers also are working to reach a two-year budget deal before the government’s current funding expires on Dec. 11.
“The utter chaos of the Republican Party must not threaten the full faith and credit of the U.S. and the American people,” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) said Thursday.
The sudden McCarthy withdrawal intensified the turmoil in the upper echelon of the House GOP, already battered by the unexpected primary loss of former Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) in June 2014 and Mr. Boehner’s announcement last month that he would leave Congress.
GOP aides said the Tuesday Group, a cluster of centrist Republicans, was aligning behind asking Mr. Boehner to stay on indefinitely as speaker after conservatives threatened to block Mr. McCarthy from getting enough votes to win election on the House floor.
“By refusing to give Kevin McCarthy the maybe 10 to 15 votes he needed to get to 218 [the minimum needed if all House members vote for speaker], they decided to leave John Boehner serving as speaker. That’s fine with me. Maybe we agree for once,” said Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R., Fla.).
On Thursday, Mr. McCarthy said he didn’t want to win with even 220 votes, saying that the next speaker should win all 247 votes in the House GOP conference.
The opposition that helped derail Mr. McCarthy’s bid may also liberate Mr. Boehner to pass legislation before he leaves that will be unpopular with conservatives, including an increase in the debt ceiling without any policy changes. Mr. Boehner had earlier been concerned that such moves could create problems for Mr. McCarthy, according to a House GOP aide.
Mr. McCarthy announced his decision Thursday at the start of the House GOP’s closed-doors election, startling lawmakers who had expected to easily elect him that afternoon as their speaker nominee. A short time later, Mr. McCarthy, flanked by his family, told reporters the GOP conference needs a fresh face to be united. “I don’t want to make voting for speaker a tough vote,” he said.
Mr. McCarthy said in an interview later he didn’t want a vote to elect him to open up GOP incumbents to other Republican challengers in primary elections. “We all worked really hard to get this majority.”
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, at a news conference after withdrawing from the speaker race Thursday, said his move ‘was for the good of the team.’ PHOTO: JACQUELYN MARTIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Republicans said Mr. McCarthy told them he didn’t want to put them in an uncomfortable position in their districts, where conservative talk-radio hosts and outside groups had been urging people to pressure lawmakers to vote against Mr. Boehner’s top deputy. “He said he didn’t want people taking arrows for him in their districts,” Rep. Tom Rooney (R., Fla.) said.
Rep. John Fleming (R., La.) said he was receiving calls from his constituents saying, “We don’t want Boehner 2.0.”
Mr. McCarthy had been competing for the nomination against Republican Reps. Daniel Webster of Florida and Jason Chaffetz of Utah and had already faced a challenge from the House Freedom Caucus. That group of roughly 40 conservatives said Wednesday most of its members would support Mr. Webster, a former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives.
Mr. McCarthy also had complicated his path forward when he linked a panel formed to investigate the 2012 Benghazi attacks to Hillary Clinton’s sinking poll numbers, which fed Democratic accusations that the panel was politically motivated and prompted criticism about whether he was an effective messenger.
“That wasn’t helpful,” Mr. McCarthy said.
The comments prompted a week of backlash, with even some House Republicans calling on Mr. McCarthy to apologize. He appeared uncharacteristically shaken at a news conference Wednesday. His decision to pull out may have been the result of realizing how much new scrutiny he would face as speaker and how he would have to operate, a Republican lawmaker and ally said.
Earlier this week, Rep. Walter Jones (R., N.C.) had sent a letter asking any leadership candidate to withdraw if they had any “skeletons in their closets,” referring to GOP Rep.Bob Livingston, who was in line to be speaker in 1998 when he acknowledged extramarital affairs.
Mr. McCarthy brushed aside a question Thursday on whether that letter influenced his decision, saying “No, c’mon,” as his wife shook her head.
The risk that Republicans would deadlock on the speaker vote has been hanging over the entire GOP conference, as it would be an embarrassment to the party if the House GOP couldn’t rally behind a specific leader.
In that case, the House would have to repeat the voting until a speaker is elected. The last time that happened was 1923, when progressives forced nine ballots, supporting the Republican candidate only after the GOP leadership agreed to procedural changes.
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