House Freedom Caucus ties itself in knots over challenging McCarthy

Kevin McCarthy’s fractious crew of pro-Trump conservatives is openly debating whether to back his speakership dreams as it pushes for major House rules changes.

How real of a rebellion the Freedom Caucus can muster when it has no alternative candidate yet, however, is another question entirely.

As a number of still-uncalled midterm races leave the House majority unsettled if continuing to trend Republican, some lawmakers in the group are openly calling for a challenge to McCarthy. Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) said Thursday that the GOP leader “has not done anything to earn my vote” next year.

“There’s many times where we have come to the leader, the minority leader, over the last two years and asked him to fight on various opportunities and various issues, and I have not seen the demonstrated fight that we’re looking for,” Good said. “So I expect there will be a challenge to him as speaker candidate.”