McCarthy's math problem

[brooklynite]

Axios

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) met on Tuesday with key members of his conference — including several right-wing detractors — as part of an intensifying effort to cobble together the votes he needs to become speaker.

Why it matters: McCarthy is at risk of a humiliating and potentially career-ending defeat with just five weeks until the Jan. 3 speaker election, as several members of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus are still publicly vowing to deny him crucial votes.

Driving the news: Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) told Axios on Tuesday he’s a firm "no" on McCarthy after previously leaving wiggle room: "I will be voting for an alternative candidate. I will not be voting for Kevin McCarthy."

State of play: McCarthy will need a majority of voting members to elect him speaker. With a House Republican majority of just five or six seats, he will only be able to afford a handful of defections.

[C_U_L8R]

1. Is it possible to have a Democratic Speaker if we stay united?

Not sure how these things work... but that would be a dreamy scenario if the GOP splinters.

[moonshinegnomie]

8. its technically possible

its a matter of who can get 218 votes to be speaker. the dems would need to have some rethugs cross over to vote for the democrat. I think whats more likely than that (assuming mcarthy goes down) is someone like an adam kinzinger or a liz cheney becomes speaker.

[MichMan]

10. You think they are going to pick a non house member?

[moonshinegnomie]

12. no but the question was is it possible,and it is possible but unlikely

[Gore1FL]

11. Possible, but more likely, the Dems would support a GOP speaker they could work with. nt

[Buckeyeblue]

2. With such a thing margin, what happens if the majority flips mid congressional session?

Can leadership be challenged at any point?

[moose65]

7. I've asked that question too, and no one seems to know

The membership in the House can change constantly - there's already a vacant seat, with a Dem congressman from Virginia who just passed away.

What if several Republicans decide to hang it up and take jobs elsewhere, or if they have health issues, or pass away? The majority could temporarily swing to Democrats, since it takes time to schedule special elections.

What happens in the meantime? Is there another speaker election while Dems are in the majority?

[moonshinegnomie]

9. yep. the speaker can be challenged at any time

any member can introduce a motion to vacate the chair which if passed removes the speaker.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. Headline writers should not confuse arithmetic with math. Very common, very confused

McCarthy is doing addition and subtraction. Calculating by arithmetic.

Technically arithmetic is part of mathematics, of course. But headline writers at Axios and just about everywhere want to tart up and fancy up their headlines. Also math is 6 letters shorter than arithmetic. At least they didn't repeat the mistake in the article.

And of course it is not even an arithmetic "problem" for McCarthy. He has calculators and spreadsheets and staff.

It's a kindergarten-teacher problem. He has to manage a whole bunch of them including kindergarteners Empty, Boebert, Jordan and the rest.

[spooky3]

4. +1

[Ms. Toad]

5. Agreed.

I might even go farther and say that arithmetic is just a tool in the mathemetician's toolbox - and a far less critical one since the advent of calculators. I'm a decent mathemetician - but without a calculator I stink at arithmetic.

[FSogol]

6. All of this aside, he'll still end up speaker. He just has to offer Good and the other clowns the

committee chairmanship they makes them happy. Even the staff of an empty suit like McCarthy can figure it out. The holdouts are looking for party favors.