OPINION | Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those held by Sarah Palin.
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy is confident his party may end up running the House floor, despite being the minority party.
As a result of the 2020 elections, Republicans lost the White House but saw their numbers in the House grow from 197 seats to 209. This number could still go up as the results of some congressional seats are still pending.
During a “Justice with Jeanine” segment over the weekend, McCarthy said the first contest will be the Speaker’s election.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is seeking to remain in leadership, but progressives in her party and Republicans in the chamber could prevent her from remaining in the position.
“We’ll have leadership races next week, and you’ll hear that she’ll win the leadership race,” McCarthy said during the interview, as the Daily Caller reports. “But that does not make her speaker. You have to have 218 votes on the floor. Last Congress, 15 Democrats voted against her. Ten of those Democrats are coming back to Congress. If 10 Democrats vote against her, she will not be speaker.”
McCarthy said Democratic in-fighting could prevent Pelosi from winning her re-election for the speakership.
“So you know what could happen? [Pelosi] could lose as speaker,” he said via the report. “But if she wins as speaker you have AOC and the progressive socialists actually grow. They are fighting among themselves, tweeting at one another, pictures staring at one another, saying it’s a dumpster fire, screaming on their conference calls.”
The Republican leader said the 2020 results showed Americans were supportive of conservative ideals and bolstered their influence in the chamber.
“I believe at the end of the day the Republicans will run the floor because it’ll be our ideas that are stronger,” McCarthy concluded. “The American public have rejected defunding the police, dismantling America. We believe we can rebuild and restore the American way.”