House conservatives withhold support for McCarthy, press for delay to election

Conservative House Republicans are pushing for GOP leadership elections to be delayed ahead of closed-door votes next week on House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) Speakership bid and other offices. 

It’s still not clear which party will control the House, with nearly three-dozen races without a winner. While the GOP is still favored to win the majority, it is expected to be much smaller than once thought, which has given critics of McCarthy an argument to make against him. 

“We don’t even know if we have the majority or who’s in the majority,” House Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry (R-Pa.) told The Hill in an interview on Thursday. “People haven’t come to Washington, D.C., because they don’t know if they’ve won their races yet.”