How far might House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy be prepared to go?
The GOP has reached the 218-seat threshold needed to secure a House majority, with six seats still to call. Even allowing for the best possible final outcome for Republicans, the party will still govern with a threadbare advantage — potentially even more fragile than their position 2001, when it had just a nine-seat majority, plus two independents.
House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy celebrated having “officially flipped” the House on Wednesday night, tweeting: “Americans are ready for a new direction, and House Republicans are ready to deliver.”
President Biden congratulated McCarthy graciously, adding that he’s “ready to work with House Republicans to deliver results for working families.”
“Last week’s elections demonstrated the strength and resilience of American democracy. There was a strong rejection of election deniers, political violence, and intimidation,” he said in a statement. “There was an emphatic statement that, in America, the will of the people prevails.”
“The future is too promising to be trapped in political warfare,” he added.
The question now is what Republicans plan to do with their super-slim majority — and what Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might do next.
How far will McCarthy go?
On Tuesday, Kevin McCarthy fended off his far-right opponent Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs to win the GOP House leadership. In an interview before the midterms, he said that he planned to tackle inflation, rising crime and border security — and he didn’t shut down calls from party hardliners that they persue President Biden’s impeachment.
McCarthy’s victory means he’s set up to become House Speaker, assuming he wins the majority of the House when the full chamber votes in January. This is far from guaranteed, and recent events have weakened the case in his favor.
McCarthy’s allies recently tried to tempt moderate Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas to switch parties to bolster their slender margins, which Cueller flatly refused. And as AP points out, the unexpected strength of the Democratic result — which saw the party retain moderate, suburban districts from Virginia to Minnesota and Kansas — could give more conservative-leaning party members pause, or see them offer only conditional support.
As CNN notes, one question still up in the air is whether House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy might be prepared to push a counter-narrative around January 6, perhaps to divert blame for the riot away from former President Trump. This isn’t clear at the moment, and there’s a strong argument that moving past 2020 would actually be better for the party.
Republicans have already laid some groundwork for investigating the January 6. committee, with more vocal members agitating to subpoena committee members — like outgoing Reps. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois — who will become private citizens next year. According to a Republican source who spoke to CNN, McCarthy isn’t super keen on the idea, though he refused to comply with his subpoena from the panel, and has questioned its authority to summon private citizens.
Another point of action might be to create a committee — or redirect the current one — to investigate Nancy Pelosi’s role in the response to the Capitol riot, as well as the failures of intelligence and security.
Gearing up for investigations
According to multiple news sources, House Republicans are considering probes into some major issues concerning Biden’s administration and beyond. America’s messy Afghanistan withdrawal, the border policies overseen by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hunter Biden’s business dealings, and the bureaucracy behind a number of Covid-related policies are all reportedly on the table.
Momentum for such steps is already gathering: On Monday, CNN notes, a federal judge in Louisiana ordered the deposition of an FBI cybersecurity official in a lawsuit that alleges the FBI strongarmed social media companies into blocking stories related Hunter Biden’s laptop before the 2020 election.
A sweeping investigation of the Justice Department and the FBI related to the agency’s raid of Mar-a-Lago is expected to be led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), hot on the heels of calls from Trump-backed candidates to “defund the FBI.”
What will Pelosi do?
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to outline her future plans later today.
“The Speaker plans to address her future plans tomorrow to her colleagues. Stay tuned,” deputy chief of staff and spokesperson Drew Hamill said on Twitter. He added that Pelosi has “been overwhelmed by calls from colleagues, friends, and supporters.”
When it became clear that Republicans had reached the threshold for a House majority, Pelosi sent a series of tweets commending Democrats’ unexpectedly strong midterms performance, but didn’t make any mention of her next moves.
