House GOPers eye post-McCarthy opportunities for 2025
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) talks with Reps. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Garret Graves (R-La.) during a 2023 news conference. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
GOP lawmakers who weren't part of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy's inner circle see an increased opportunity to rise in the leadership ranks now that McCarthy has left the House.
Why it matters: All but a few members of McCarthy's inner circle have retired or are planning to, creating openings for a different crop of lawmakers to secure committee gavels and other influential positions next year.
The big picture: Financial Services Chairman Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) are among the McCarthy confidants who plan to retire. Both have been largely left out of major policy talks since Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) took over for McCarthy eight months ago.
- Both were key players in debt ceiling negotiations last summer, and Graves chairs the Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee dealing with aviation.
- For the few McCarthy allies sticking around — most notably Ways and Means chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) —the task of keeping or acquiring a coveted committee gavel has become more difficult without their leader's help.
Zoom in: Two members told Axios that Hill likely would have been a shoo-in to replace McHenry as chair of the financial services panel if McCarthy were still around.
- As it stands, Hill is competing against fellow GOP committee members Frank Lucas (Okla.), Andy Barr (Ky.) and Bill Huizenga (Mich.) for the gavel.
- And sources familiar with the matter confirmed that Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.) is weighing challenging Smith for the top spot on the tax-writing panel next Congress after narrowly losing the race last time.
Between the lines: Because the speaker controls more votes on the GOP's steering committee — a powerful panel that doles out committee seats and gavels — McCarthy had significant power to dictate who received plum assignments and wasn't shy about using it.
- "McCarthy had a really outsized influence on the steering committee and the speaker is always going to have an outsized influence on the steering committee," one member said.
- McCarthy didn't respond to requests for comment on this story.
Zoom out: Because Johnson and his top lieutenant, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, are closely aligned and both from Louisiana, members noted those closest to them could have an edge next year.
- "It's a new rule of order," one senior member said, pointing to Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) as an example of someone who could have benefited.
- Higgins bowed out of the race for Homeland Security chair when McCarthy was in power, and Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) ultimately won the gavel.
What they're saying: McCarthy's allies "are now having to realize the steering committee is not going to be as favorable to them as it was in the past," one GOP operative told Axios. "All these guys have put their eggs in this McCarthy basket who are now not going to move up."
- Meanwhile, McCarthy's biggest critics are still taking a victory lap:
- "That's one of the added benefits of removing McCarthy, is that the penumbras around McCarthy have similarly departed," Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who led the effort to oust the California Republican, told Axios.
