Who is Kevin McCarthy?
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 7 December 2022
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Republican Kevin McCarthy wants to be the next speaker of the House, but first he’ll need to secure 218 votes. Despite winning a majority in the midterm elections, Republicans have felt deflated by an election cycle many hoped would be a “red wave,” and some are now saying they won’t endorse McCarthy’s leadership bid.
Read more:
Read Michael Kranish’s profile of Kevin McCarthy’s rise to power.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | He has this very slim majority and he needs everyone, basically in the caucus or newly |
| 0:08.4 | everyone. |
| 0:09.5 | And it's just not clear that someone will ever be satisfied with Kevin McCarthy and |
| 0:13.1 | that may be going back to his past. |
| 0:16.5 | This is Michael Kranish. |
| 0:18.0 | He's a political investigator reporter for the post and he has spent a lot of time looking |
| 0:22.6 | into the top Republican in the house, Kevin McCarthy. |
| 0:26.3 | As Republicans get ready to retake the house in January, McCarthy is the most likely option |
| 0:31.6 | to become the next speaker of the house. |
| 0:33.8 | But the GOP will have a narrow majority. |
| 0:36.8 | That means that just a few votes against McCarthy could be a huge problem for him. |
| 0:42.0 | And this week, that problem got worse. |
| 0:44.6 | Speaking of the Republican majority, if Kevin McCarthy can't get 218 votes to be speaker |
| 0:51.6 | who can, and I know you're... |
| 0:53.4 | McCarthy is struggling to find support. |
| 0:56.2 | Five Republicans have already signaled that they will not vote for him. |
| 1:00.0 | And on Tuesday, Congressman Andy Biggs said that he will challenge McCarthy, which could |
| 1:05.0 | peel off even more GOP votes. |
| 1:07.8 | So the question here is, will McCarthy survive this? |
| 1:11.5 | And what can his past tell us about his ability to win this kind of political battle? |
| 1:19.9 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. |
| 1:23.2 | I'm Martin Powers. |
... |
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