GOP Rep. Reveals Plan to Keep Kevin McCarthy From Becoming Speaker of the House

Screenshot via CSPAN

Politico’s Playbook published an interview with Rep. Bob Good (R-VA) on Friday, which described the conservative congressman’s plan to ensure House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) does not become House speaker. The interview describes Good as “vowing not to support McCarthy’s bid under any circumstances.”

The write-up begins with a look back at the bad blood between McCarthy and Good.

“McCarthy reminded Good that he went on to spend $2 million to help elect him that fall. But Good reminded him of his Riggleman support two years prior and shot back that McCarthy never gave him a customary congratulatory call after he defeated the Virginia Republican in the primary,” Politico noted.

Good recalled that when he eventually called McCarthy that year, the GOP leader “groused about having to ‘spend money to keep a seat I shouldn’t have to spend money on.’”

Politico went on to explain that that “festering relationship could have dire implications for McCarthy’s long-standing ambitions to be House speaker.”

Good is one of five GOP House members that are “hard no votes” against McCarthy as House speaker – a number which given the GOP’s slim majority could well deprive him of the votes needed to achieve his longheld political ambition.

Good detailed his plan to keep McCarthy out of the speakership.

The Virginia Republican told the Playbook that “[a]nti-McCarthy members are currently plotting to back” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) “on the first ballot … to prove McCarthy can’t get the gavel.”
Politico sums up the rest of the plan:

But once the second ballot is called, they’ll begin coalescing around another, unnamed candidate—a GOP lawmaker most have already agreed upon, Good said, but will not name for fear of hurting this person’s candidacy.

Good did say, however, that this mystery person “cannot be part of, and they are not part of, the effort to block McCarthy.”