Houses Ted Cruz nominates McCarthy in win
B
y Rick Manning
Texas Insider Report: WASHINGTON D.C. Those who want to make the internal election into to elevate Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy to Eric Cantors vacated House Majority Leader slot an
Establishment versus Tea Party battle will have a hard time explaining away Rep. Tom Graves nomination of McCarthy in the race.
Graves is the Houses Ted Cruz. While maintaining a relatively low national profile Tom Graves is a conservative go to guy
yet he supported McCarthy.
House Leadership races are difficult to pin down. Not being privy to Graves speech or rationale one thing about this leadership election is clear House conservatives decided that they didnt want to rock the boat four months before the General Election and are holding their water until internal Leadership elections occur in December with a new crop of Members.
In fact defeating McCarthy may have been impossible no matter who ran because of his two major advantages over any potential opponent in this quickie election.
McCarthy had a group of Members already in place due to his position as Whip who were able to immediately work their assigned Republican member offices on his behalf before any other potential challenger likely even had learned the news of Cantors stepping down. This Whip team approach is the exact tactic used by then Whip Tom Delay to push his deputy Dennis Hastert into the Speakers office more than a decade ago.
No challenger had any hope of matching this fast strike operation.
But the other marked advantage that McCarthy enjoyed is that he and his team have been showing up in his fellow Republican Member districts for at least four years helping them raise money and helping them with
political tactics.
And it is this type of political effort that anyone who hopes to challenge for a leadership post in December must match between now and November.
Weekends and evenings need to be devoted to an almost slavish pursuit of building the Republican majority in the House and quaint notions of spending time with family put aside. Jumping in on behalf of Republicans in tough races through helping them break through the D.C. money logjam and getting them noticed by not only the NRCC (the National Republican Congressional Committee) but also prioritized by conservative groups has to be job one.
While this process may seem callous it actually serves all Republican members well.
As a result those in Leadership know the political situations of each Republican member and can better help them meet their in-district political needs due to this exposure and the Republican members can push the
leadership buttons to help accomplish their objectives.
Running for House leadership is hard work and cannot be achieved as a last-minute whim. This is the true lesson of Kevin McCarthys rise to the Majority Leader slot.
McCarthy his staff and those members who are in his inner circle have sacrificed and planned over time to win the job.
Time will tell if any conservative House member is willing to do the same and effectively challenge for
Leadership in December.
Rick Manning is vice president of Public Policy & Communications for Americans for Limited Government and served for a short time as a senior leadership staffer for Cong. J.C. Watts Jr.
