'He’ll never be over it': GOP reps say McCarthy’s anti-MAGA effort 'throwing money down a well'

24 August 2024

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-California) has attempted to remain a kingmaker in Republican politics despite being ousted from his position last year. But so far those efforts are falling flat.

A recent Politico report delved into McCarthy's "multimillion dollar crusade to primary the eight Republicans who voted to strip him of the gavel," and found it to to be largely ineffective. The crown jewel of the former speaker's initiative was Tuesday's primary for Florida's 1st congressional district, in which Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) — who led the effort to oust McCarthy in October of 2023 — easily won his contest against a McCarthy-backed challenger by roughly 45 percentage points.

Out of the other seven contests McCarthy spent money, the candidates he endorsed lost in six of them. Another stinging defeat for the ex-speaker was Rep. Nancy Mace's (R-South Carolina) primary win, with the MAGA-aligned Republican cruising to victory by a 27-point margin. In fact, the only success McCarthy saw was against former House Freedom Caucus chairman Bob Good (R-Virginia).

Good narrowly lost his primary to Virginia state senator John McGuire, and failed to flip that result in the official recount. McGuire not because of McCarthy's money, but because former President Donald Trump threw his weight behind Good's Republican challenger.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee), who also supported the effort to vacate McCarthy as speaker, said anyone considering donating to McCarthy's future efforts against MAGA Republicans was "throwing money down a well."

“He’ll never be over it. Until his dying day, until he has a dollar left, he’ll be in everybody’s races," Burchett told Politico. "People will probably still continue to give him money."

However, the former speaker still has allies among other GOP members of Congress, who say his prowess as a fundraiser remains one of his unique strengths. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Florida) remains a stalwart ally of McCarthy, and defended his record of helping Republicans eke out wins in close races.

"I’m not gonna judge Kevin and how he spends his money,” Gimenez said. “He raised it. So he has the right to decide how to use it.”

McCarthy's ouster and eventual exit from Congress marked an embarrassing end to the tenure of the nine-term Republican leader. Despite serving as the #1 House Republican since 2014 and eventually winning the speaker's gavel after the 2022 midterm elections, the California lawmaker was booted from the speakership after working with Democrats on legislation to raise the debt ceiling.

After he retired from Congress, McCarthy continued to antagonize Gaetz for his role in rallying seven other Republicans to join all Democrats in stripping him of the gavel. He's frequently referred to the ongoing House Ethics Committee investigation into the Florida Republican, and once called him "the Hunter Biden of the Republican Party" after accusing him of "buying coke and paying minors for sex."

Click here to read Politico's report in full.

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