Mark your calendars for Dec. 13, folks. The House Republican campaign arm is throwing a festive bash for prolific fundraiser, ousted speaker, and still-sitting member of Congress Kevin McCarthy.
For what, you ask. Good question.
“Is this a going-away party?” one unnamed House Republican posited to Politico, which obtained the invitation to the private three-hour reception at an undisclosed location.
The invitation hails McCarthy’s “tireless work in support” of “delivering our House majority.” And McCarthy’s colleagues apparently plan to toast the man who has “done so much for each one of us.”
He’s done so much, in fact, they dragged him through 15 rounds of voting to secure the speakership, then kicked him out within the year! Sure, McCarthy raised a boatload of cash to help elect Republicans’ narrow majority, but you know what they say: No good deed goes unpunished.
The entire event is a strange proposition. Some people wonder if McCarthy is resigning before the end of his term, which would seriously jam the GOP majority. With last week’s ejection of Rep. George Santos and the upcoming resignation of Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio, House Republicans are facing a stretch next year of navigating a meager two-seat majority.
Or perhaps McCarthy plans to announce he won’t seek reelection next year, adding to the list of roughly a dozen Republicans who are either heading to greener pastures or running for a different office.
Should McCarthy decide to leave, he would be in good company. Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, who reluctantly became speaker pro tempore following McCarthy’s ouster, announced Tuesday he would not seek reelection. Let’s face it: McHenry was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he’s making damn sure that will never happen again.
Or … maybe McCarthy stays.
Whatever the case, the National Republican Campaign Committee and its chair, event host Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina, clearly want to stay in McCarthy’s good graces.
Here’s looking at you, McCarthy, and your fantastically short-lived but historic turn as speaker!
There has been a ton of coverage in recent weeks over a streak of poor 2024 polling for Democrats and Target Smart’s Tom Bonier joins us to help us separate the wheat from the chaff. We talk about what to take from these polls and how to balance them against the much more positive election results we’ve seen this year. We also discuss how early voting data continues to evolve and how Sen. Sherrod Brown’s campaign will use Ohio’s recent abortion and marijuana referendums to find new persuadable voters next year.
