The latest front in the Gaetz vs. McCarthy fight: House primaries
Gaetz keeps supporting candidates in primaries where McCarthy has already backed someone else.
Dec. 26, 2023
Republicans are desperate to avoid nasty primaries next year. But the architect of Kevin McCarthy’s ouster from the speakership has other plans.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is continuing to buck party leadership, which has tried to coalesce early this cycle behind candidates in key races. Gaetz has instead thrown his support to other congressional hopefuls in several of those races, and his megaphone has already helped upend one of them.
Gaetz, a prominent figure of the most conservative wing of the GOP, endorsed J.R. Majewski — who lost his bid last year after a report he misrepresented his combat duty — in the high-stakes race for Ohio’s 9th District House seat. Gaetz has also voiced support for former Nevada state Sen. Elizabeth Helgelien, who’s running to the right in Nevada’s 3rd District, and for Darren Bailey, an unsuccessful 2022 Illinois gubernatorial candidate who is now challenging Republican Rep. Mike Bost in IL-12.
The common theme among these candidates who have caught Gaetz’s attention: They’re all ultra-conservatives who are running in primaries against candidates backed by McCarthy.
McCarthy threw his weight around in competitive races early in the 2024 cycle, including endorsing state Rep. Heidi Kasama in NV-03 and former state Rep. Craig Riedel in OH-09, both of which are top targets for national Republicans. McCarthy has also boosted Bost’s reelection bid and spoken out against Bailey for challenging the incumbent.
Gaetz rebuffed the suggestion that he is supporting candidates because they are running against Republicans who have McCarthy’s backing.
“He’s old news. Mike Johnson’s speaker now,” Gaetz said.
Gaetz has long clashed with McCarthy, refusing to vote for him during the marathon speakership vote in January. Gaetz then led the charge in ejecting McCarthy from his leadership post earlier this year, throwing the House into chaos for nearly a month and drawing the ire of fellow members of his party. It was a blow to establishment Republicans, who were already grappling with their thin majority in the House.
Now, with McCarthy retiring — just months after being removed — Gaetz is going after some of his chosen candidates.
Candidate quality nearly cost Republicans the House majority in 2022, with some far-right candidates losing key races. Majewski was one of those candidates, plagued by ads from Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur hitting him as an “extremist” for being on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. Another was Bailey, whom Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker labeled as too extreme during his 2022 gubernatorial run.
IL-12 is a safe Republican district, so the primary victor will likely have a smooth path to the general election — although a messy primary is not a good look for Republicans, who are still trying to rehabilitate their image after the speakership drama earlier this year. But OH-09 and NV-03 are both battlegrounds, and losses in such districts could cost the party its majority.
Gaetz brushed aside questions about backing conservative Republicans who may go on to lose the general election.
“Primaries are a really important part of the political process,” he said. “It shows the direction the party is moving.”
A spokesperson for McCarthy did not respond to a request for comment. The NRCC declined to comment.
Republican leaders were already thrown for a loop after Gaetz helped upend the OH-09 race.
Riedel was a top recruit to take on Kaptur, earning the endorsement of House leadership over the summer. But after an audio clip surfaced of him calling former President Donald Trump “arrogant” and saying the party needs to “go in a different direction,” he faces a difficult primary — one that could end up elevating Majewski anyway.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/26/the-latest-front-in-the-gaetz-vs-mccarthy-fight-house-primaries-00133131