In a shocking turn of events, McCarthy withdrew himself from the race moments before the caucus was set to vote on the nominees and after making a speech to the caucus that morning as to why he should be Speaker. McCarthy will remain Majority Leader. Additionally, with McCarthy not running for Speaker, the subsequent leadership races are no longer moot because the position of Majority Leader will no longer be vacated. As a result, the vote was immediately cancelled and the Speaker election on the 29th has been postponed. Boehner will remain Speaker until another candidate can be found.
McCarthy said that he did not have the assured votes to secure being Speaker in the larger election on the 29th, which is why he withdrew. The House Freedom Caucus had said that it will not support the caucus candidate in the larger election if it was McCarthy.
The next presumed candidate is Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), who endorsed McCarthy at the morning caucus meeting. Ryan has adamantly asserted he will not run for Speaker. He is currently the House Ways and Means Committee Chair. Immediately following the breaking news of McCarthy’s withdrawal, Ryan stated that he will not run for Speaker, and he has echoed this many times subsequently.
That leaves the Republican Leadership and caucus in a pickle. In the wake of Majority Leader McCarthy’s abrupt withdrawal from the Speaker race, House Republicans kept floating trial balloon speaker candidates Thursday in the wake of Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s about-face on climbing the GOP ladder, including several who might serve as an “interim” speaker.There have been points in history where the House has operated without a Speaker, but it has not been a practice in recent history. The idea of a “Interim Speaker” has been bantered about. The idea that the Member would be someone who has already announced their intent to retire allowing them to serve as Speaker for about 16 months. The only problem with this plan is who exactly would be the individual that could receive the support of both the various factions of the Republican caucus, and how this position would function…and if doing such a thing is even legitimate….