Dems to Rep. Kevin McCarthy: Recant Nancy Pelosi taunt or quit
By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press
Posted:
Updated:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Several House Democrats have called on House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to apologize to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi or resign after audio surfaced of him saying at a weekend fundraiser that it would be “hard not to hit her” with a gavel if he’s sworn in as speaker after the 2022 midterm elections.
The comment is emblematic of the rising tension between the two leaders since the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which a violent mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters broke into the Capitol and some hunted for Pelosi by name. After initially condemning the rioters and blaming Trump for inciting them, McCarthy and his leadership team have recently tried to lay blame on Pelosi, falsely claiming that she was responsible for a delay in military assistance. And McCarthy has remained close to Trump, who often insulted his political rivals in personal terms.
Democrats responded quickly, noting the threats on Pelosi’s life on Jan. 6, when the insurrectionists broke into her office, stole some of her belongings and called out for her.
“Threatening violence against the Speaker of the House is no joke,” tweeted New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney. “This is the kind of reckless language that led to a violent insurrection.”
The public strain between the two — extraordinary even by congressional standards — has moved beyond the insurrection into most every matter between them as McCarthy is eyeing the speakership and an election map that could be favorable to Republicans next year. McCarthy last week blamed Pelosi for a renewed mask mandate in the House as “a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state.” Pelosi shot back that he was a “moron.”
On Saturday, McCarthy was attending a Tennessee Republican Party fundraiser when he was gifted an oversized gavel with the words “fire Pelosi” on it, according to local publication Main Street Nashville, which also posted audio of the comments. McCarthy responded by saying that he wanted the crowd to watch Pelosi hand him the gavel if he wins the speakership, and “it’ll be hard not to hit her with it, but I will bang it down.”
Asked about the comments, McCarthy’s office said in a statement that “he was joking.”
But Democrats suggested the remarks were part of a broader problem. New Hampshire Rep. Annie Kuster noted that McCarthy had voted against the Violence Against Women Act, legislation designed to protect women from domestic violence that passed the House in March.
Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., tweeted: “There’s nothing funny about hitting Speaker Pelosi or any woman,” adding that he “continues to reminds us that nothing will get in the way of his ambitions — including joking about hitting a woman to excite his small base.”
Democratic Reps. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts and Eric Swalwell of California said McCarthy should step down. ” I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again—he should RESIGN!!” tweeted McGovern.
While already disagreeing on most policy matters, McCarthy and Pelosi have also clashed in recent weeks over the mask mandate, which some Republicans have resisted and argued is not based on science. The requirement was re-instituted in the House after a recommendation from the Capitol Physician.
Asked about her “moron” comment last week, Pelosi responded: “To say that wearing a mask is not based on science, I think is not wise, but that’s all I am going to say about that.”
McCarthy also withdrew five members from a select committee established last month to investigate the insurrection after Pelosi rejected two of his members, saying they couldn’t sit on the panel because of their “antics” defending Trump after the attack. McCarthy called the move an “egregious abuse of power” and the committee a “sham.”
Holding a news conference ahead of the committee’s first hearing, in which police officers spoke emotionally about their physical and mental pain after the rioting, McCarthy and his leadership tried to shift blame from the Trump supporters who laid siege to Pelosi herself. McCarthy said there were “questions into the leadership within the structure of the Speaker’s office” about delays in the National Guard’s arrival that day.
However, Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called for the guard’s help after the fighting began, and Pelosi’s office has said she did not weigh in on the guard’s presence before that. The delays were instead due to communications between security officials in the Capitol and the Pentagon and a lack of preparedness ahead of the attack.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who was then majority leader, had identical authority over the guard as Pelosi. But McCarthy has repeatedly ignored all questions about his role.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California speaks at a news conference on the steps of the Capitol in Washington on Thursday, July 29, 2021, to complain about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the leadership of President Joe Biden and guidelines on face masks by the Centers for Disease Control.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
AP FILE
Incumbent: Republican Pat Toomey (retiring)
Pennsylvania remains the seat most likely to flip with Republicans trying to defend an open seat in a state that Biden won last fall. The primary fields on both sides are still in flux, with Republicans recently picking up a new candidate in Army veteran Sean Parnell, who ran for Congress last year but came up short against Democratic Rep. Conor Lamb, who himself could launch a Sente bid. Even in a state that went for Biden, Trump loyalty is a salient factor in the GOP primary. Donald Trump Jr. quickly backed Parnell, while Jeff Bartos, who was already in the race, dredged up Parnell's old tweets from the 2016 presidential primary. Having run with the GOP President's backing in 2020, Parnell may occupy a Trumpier lane than Bartos, a wealthy businessman who loaned his campaign $400,000 during the first quarter, but Bartos carefully namedrops the former President in his announcement video. The Democratic field is crowded with Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta and Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh and a handful of other state and federal elected officials still looking at the race. Republicans like their odds against Fetterman, the progressive former mayor of Braddock -- and the biggest fundraiser so far. But the list of candidates trying to replace Toomey may keep growing, so expect plenty of drama in this top-tier race before we even get to the general election.
AP FILE
Incumbent: Democrat Raphael Warnock
Warnock, who flipped this seat blue in a January runoff, is in the enviable position of raising money for his quest to win a full six-year term while waiting for a Republican challenger. He started the second quarter with $5.6 million in the bank. As CNN has previously reported, former NFL running back Herschel Walker -- who doesn't even live in Georgia -- has frozen the GOP field because he has Trump's backing. Other potential Republican candidates, knowing how important Trump's support would be in a GOP primary, don't want to run until they see whether Walker, a political novice, actually dives in. Rep. Buddy Carter, who has spoken to Walker, recently told CNN's Manu Raju that the Texas resident won't decide what he'll do until the beginning of the summer. Carter himself is waiting on Walker, saying he'll run if the Heisman Trophy winner doesn't. Plenty of others could still jump in the race, too. State House Speaker David Ralston's recent tweet about meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rick Scott, the chairman of the Senate GOP's campaign committee, sparked chatter about his interest in the race, while former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, Warnock's opponent in the January runoff, and Rep. Drew Ferguson may still be contenders. Meanwhile, former Rep. Doug Collins, who failed to make it to the 2021 runoff, announced in April that he would not run. But the hold up on the GOP side doesn't mean Warnock is in for an easy race. And it remains to be seen how Georgia's new restrictive voting law, which voting rights advocates say makes it harder for Black Georgians to vote, will impact Democrats' winning coalition here. Republicans are excited that Warnock now has a voting record and won't be running in the unique circumstances of a special election runoff, and they're looking forward to weaponizing the business boycott of the state against Democrats, even though it was a GOP law that sparked the All Star Game and others to move.
AP FILE
Incumbent: Republican Ron Johnson
Johnson continues to be the biggest variable in this race: Will he run again? The two-term senator hasn't said, but he's generating plenty of other headlines, spewing misinformation about vaccines and conspiracy theories about the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. His antics are raising questions about whether it'd be easier for Republicans to hold this seat -- in a state Biden narrowly won -- without him on the ballot. His indecision is making it hard for any other Republicans who might be interested in the race -- there's talk about Rep. Mike Gallagher, for example -- to make a move. Meanwhile, Democrats have a crowded field with Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski and state Sen. Chris Larson, who announced Wednesday -- and that could still grow if Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes gets in the race. Democrats feel good about their options here and like the idea of running against Johnson, whom they see as a damaged incumbent, just as much as they do about it being an open seat.
AP FILE
Incumbent: Republican Richard Burr (retiring)
Republicans aren't as worried about defending North Carolina as they are Biden states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, but the open seat created by Burr's retirement is giving Democrats an opening -- potentially with more diverse candidates who could help them drive minority turnout. Cheri Beasley, the former state Supreme Court chief justice who narrowly lost reelection in 2020, announced her candidacy at the end of April and quickly secured the backing of EMILY's List, a powerful player in Democratic primaries. The pro-abortion rights group touted Beasley's 2008 experience as the first Black woman to win statewide in North Carolina. State Sen. Jeff Jackson and former state Sen. Erica Smith, whom Republicans tried to boost in the 2020 primary, were already running. Republicans got a new candidate, too: Rep. Ted Budd also launched his campaign at the end of April with a monster truck-studded announcement video that played footage of Trump praising him during the 2020 campaign. The conservative Club for Growth PAC threw its support behind the three-term congressman, who's facing former Rep. Mark Walker -- who's been in the race since last year -- and former Gov. Pat McCrory.
AP FILE
Incumbent: Democrat Mark Kelly
Kelly is running for a full six-term after winning the seat of the late Sen. John McCain last fall. Kelly only won by about 2 points last year, and Biden carried the state by an even narrower margin. Plus, the former astronaut now has a voting record. All of that should make this a competitive race. But Republicans have had trouble landing a candidate, and more than anywhere else, their lack of a big name here is concerning to some Republicans, in part because this should be a hotly contested race -- one that the GOP needs to win if the party is going to have a realistic shot at the majority. Solar energy entrepreneur Jim Lamon became the first Republican to enter the race earlier this month. Others could still enter the race, like Rep. Andy Biggs, the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, Blake Masters, the president of the Thiel Foundation, Maj. Gen. Michael McGuire and state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, whom Trump criticized this week for not fully embracing the GOP-ordered audit in Maricopa County. But other statewide races seem to be attracting Republicans who aren't eager to face the impressive Democratic fundraiser (Kelly raised $4.4 million in the first quarter), who's known for his compelling personal story as the husband of Gabby Giffords, the former congresswoman who was shot and wounded in a mass shooting and has since become a vocal gun violence prevention advocate. Still, Republicans hope that whoever runs, this will be a policy rather than personality-driven race, with the National Republican Senatorial Committee launching digital ads attacking the Democrat on immigration earlier this month. But Kelly hasn't shied away from the issue, criticizing Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress for not spending more time on the border crisis.
AP FILE
Incumbent: Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto
Republicans are also waiting for a candidate to take on Cortez Masto, a first-term senator. All eyes remain on former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, who, as a former statewide elected official, Republicans hope would give them a good shot. Democrats will be eager to tie him to Trump and his efforts to overturn the election. But Biden only won the Silver State by about 2 points last fall, as did Cortez Masto in her first Senate race in 2016. Two years later, Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen carried the state by 5 points. So even though Nevada has been a blue state recently, both sides still view it as competitive. Cortez Masto, the first Latina senator, is fresh off a term as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, raising $2.3 million in the first quarter and starting the second quarter with nearly $4.7 million in the bank.
AP FILE
Incumbent: Democrat Maggie Hassan
The GOP anticipation is similar in the Granite State, where Republicans are eager for Gov. Chris Sununu to run against first-term Sen. Hassan, believing he'd give the Democratic former governor a real race. But Sununu has said he won't make a move until the end of the legislative session, which is next month, so until he decides what to do, the Republican field is in a holding pattern. For sure, Sununu's name and credibility as a statewide elected official would likely bump it up on this list of seats most likely to flip. But Democrats argue that at the federal level at least, New Hampshire has trended much more blue, even over the past four years. While Hassan and Clinton both won by less than half a point in 2016, Biden carried the state by 7 points and Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen won reelection by nearly 16 points last fall.
AP FILE
Incumbent: Republican Rob Portman (retiring)
While an ever-growing field of Republicans dukes it out to replace Portman, the question in Ohio is whether Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan will be able to recreate Sen. Sherrod Brown's magic. The three-term senator is the rare Democrat to recently win statewide in the Buckeye State, which has been trending more red. Ryan, who's represented the Youngstown area since 2003 and briefly ran for the Democratic presidential nomination last cycle, officially got into the race at the end of April, trying to appeal to blue collar voters who may have been swayed by Trump. "My experience has been just focusing on the workers, their families, the issues that are important to them," Ryan told CNN at the time. With other prominent Democrats passing on the race, the congressman is the big name. But Republicans are excited about running against a 10-term lawmaker with a voting record in a state that's been moving their way. First, though, they've got their own internal dynamics to sort out, with former state Treasurer Josh Mandel, former state party chair Jane Timken and several wealthy businessmen running. "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance has formed an exploratory committee, and while it's not clear how much his Silicon Valley connections would endear him to Ohio voters, the $10 million super PAC commitment from Peter Thiel certainly wouldn't hurt. While Democrats are gleeful to see Republican infighting here (mostly over loyalty to Trump), Republicans feel pretty comfortable that any of their candidates would be good enough in a state that voted for Trump by 8 points last fall.
AP FILE
Incumbent: Republican Marco Rubio
By the numbers, Florida is a more competitive state than Ohio, but given that Ohio is an open seat with an already messy Republican primary, Florida remains at No. 9 for now, although that could change soon. Democratic Rep. Val Demings has shaken up this race with the news -- confirmed by sources familiar -- that she's planning to run for Senate against Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. Demings, who was a vice presidential contender for Biden, hadn't made secret her aspirations for higher office, but it was long thought she was more seriously eyeing the gubernatorial race. First elected to Congress in 2016, she gained prominence as an impeachment manager during Trump's first trial and she brings an interesting background as a former social worker and Orlando police chief. Another Orlando-area congresswoman, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, announced Monday she would not run for Senate in 2022, sparing Democrats a potentially expensive and damaging primary. Even if Republicans ultimately feel good about Rubio's chances in a state Trump won by 3 points, they're watching to see how much investment it will take from them and how much that spending in a very expensive state impacts their capabilities across the map.
AP FILE
Incumbent: Republican Roy Blunt (retiring)
Blunt's decision not to run for reelection should not, on its own, have caused much of a headache for Republicans looking to hold onto this red state. But the candidacy of former Gov. Eric Greitens, who resigned from office following a probe into allegations of sexual and campaign misconduct, could give Democrats just enough of an opening that this race is on the list for the second month in a row now. Greitens' candidacy -- and his connections to Trump world -- are concerning to Republicans, who worry that much like Todd Akin in 2012, he could endanger this seat if he's the nominee and force other GOP candidates around the country to answer for him. That may be one reason why state Senate Republicans tried to create a runoff rule that would apply for next year. Attorney General Eric Schmitt is in the race and members of the congressional delegation could still join too, but the fear has been that having more candidates could split the anti-Greitens vote in a primary. But national Republicans may have actually gotten some good news with the campaign announcement of Mark McCloskey, who could appeal to similar voters as Greitens, potentially splitting the former governor's base. McCloskey and his wife appeared in videos last summer pointing guns at demonstrators outside their St. Louis mansion. While much of the country watched in horror, the GOP embraced the couple, giving them a speaking slot at last year's Republican National Convention.
