Former House Speaker Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said the Republican Party is in a “very bad position” as they continue to struggle to elect a speaker.
“We’ll have to go back to the drawing board. What history will look at the crazy eights led by Gaetz, the amount of damage they’ve done to this party, this country, is insurmountable. I’ve never seen this amount of damage done with just a few people for their own personalities,” McCarthy said.
“And really it’s astonishing to me, and we’re in a very bad position as a party,” he added. “I’m concerned about where we go from here.”
McCarthy was ousted as speaker more than two weeks ago and House Republicans have been struggling to elect his replacement since then.
On Friday Republicans voted to drop Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as their nominee hours after his third failed ballot on the House floor. Jordan had lost GOP support with each successive vote since Tuesday.
Republican lawmakers will hold a candidate forum on Monday and a secret ballot election for a new Speaker nominee Tuesday.
So far, Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) have announced plans to run for the speakership.
