Jason Chaffetz launches bid for House speaker
Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz said Sunday that he is officially running for speaker of the House of Representatives, meaning he will challenge Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California.
"I am running for Speaker of the House of Representatives because I want to lead the way on tackling the toughest issues facing the United States of America," Chaffetz said in a statement. "The American people have entrusted Republicans with the largest majority since the 1920's, but with that majority comes a responsibility to get the job done that we were elected to do. I came to Congress to help fix problems, and as Speaker I will fight every day to make that happen."
He announced his candidacy on "Fox News Sunday." CBS News confirmed he planned to run last Friday.
On "Fox News Sunday, Chaffetz called McCarthy "a good man," but continued, "[T]here's really a math problem. You need 218 votes on the floor of the House. There's 246 Republicans that will vote, but there are nearly 50 people and a growing number that will not and cannot vote for Kevin McCarthy as the speaker on the floor. He's going to fall short of the 218 votes on the floor of House."
In an interview with Politico over the weekend, Chaffetz, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman, argued he could win broader support than McCarthy among the fractious House Republican conference.
"There are very few people who can win the support of our hardcore conservatives and yet be palatable to our more moderate members," he said. "The question is who can help unite the party and bridge the divide and I hope they see me as the person that will give everyone a fair shake."
Chaffetz praised McCarthy for helping to win the Republican majority, but also said that "too many members won't promote" him to speaker just because the position is open.
Chaffetz's run for the top seat comes just as McCarthy continues to receive flak for comments that politicized the House's select panel investigating 2011's Benghazi terror attacks.
"Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right?" McCarthy, the favored candidate to replace the retiring House Speaker, told Fox News last week. "But we put together a Benghazi special committee, a select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she's untrustable. But no one would've known any of that had happened had we not fought and made that happen."
The remarks caused a ripple of unease among House conservatives, who, according to CBS News Congressional Correspondent Nancy Cordes, like McCarthy personally but who already had concerns about the Californian's conservative bona fides. Some now fear that he doesn't have the persuasive speaking ability needed to be speaker, a role that requires one to be a chief spokesman for the House GOP conference.
The only other person who has announced they are running is Rep. Daniel Webster, R-Florida. The leadership elections are scheduled for Oct. 8.
