Kevin McCarthy said “I’ll stay on as majority leader. But the one thing I found in talking to everybody, if we are going to unite and be strong, we need a new face to help do that,” indicating his reasoning to why he is no longer running for speaker of the House. (RELATED: Kevin McCarthy Shocks Republicans by Dropping Out Of Speaker’s Race)
In a press conference Thursday, McCarthy acknowledged that he “shocked some of you” in his decision. As recently as 8:00 a.m. EST Thursday, he had said the he was going to run for the speakership. Addressing the reversal, McCarthy explained, “We had our conference and there’s calls into the district. I don’t want making voting for speaker a tough one. I don’t want to go to the floor and win with 220 votes. I think the best thing for our party right now is to have 247 votes on the floor.”
McCarthy continued, “If we are going to be strong, we got to be 100 percent united … let’s put the conference first. Because that’s what we’re about to do.”
McCarthy explained, “I have been talking with a number of members. We have been thinking about this throughout the week, trying to see if we can get there. I just think it’s best to have a new face.”
McCarthy also addressed his recent comments on the Benghazi subcommittee and said, “Well, that wasn’t helpful. [laughter] Yeah. I could have said it much better. But this Benghazi committee was only created for one purpose, to find the truth on behalf of the families for the four dead Americans. I should not be a distraction from that. And that’s part of the decision as well.” (RELATED: Republicans Criticize McCarthy Over Benghazi Remarks)