Utah Congressman: Nobody but McCarthy has the votes

SALT LAKE CITY — A majority in the U.S. House of Representatives voted to oust Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Tuesday afternoon. And Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, doesn’t see a path forward for any other congressman to take McCarthy’s place.

Speaking with KSL NewsRadio Tuesday morning, before the final vote that ousted McCarthy, Curtis said there aren’t any other members of the House that have enough votes to win the speakership.

“Kevin’s the only one, like last January, that’s going to have the ability to even get, let’s say, 200 votes let alone 218 votes,” the Utah congressman said of McCarthy. “Do we just keep voting?”

“Kevin (McCarthy) has said he won’t stop fighting like he did last January. I kind of think he’s probably going to do that.”

In January 2023, the House went through 15 ballots to choose a House Speaker. During that time, McCarthy made a series of concessions to the conservative members of the Republican Party which they said McCarthy has not lived up to.

Another concern for Curtis is the focus that’s been taken off the job of funding the U.S. government.

Instead, the focus has been on ousting McCarthy he said. And Utah Congressman Curtis said he believes the focus, will stay with McCarthy.

“I think everybody in that chamber, all 435 members, need to be prepared for, eventually, where this goes,” he said. “In my opinion, it goes to Kevin (McCarthy) for a while.” 

Curtis questions whether there’s a person, right now, that can bring the House of Representatives together. He said that may take working with the House Democrats. But if a Congressman does that, they’ll likely lose some Republican votes.

The math, he said, just doesn’t add up.

Related:

• McCarthy flips 15 votes as he fights for the speaker’s gavel
• House to hold 12th vote in longest speaker contest in 164 years