On Sunday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) announced he will challenge Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to replace current Speaker of the House John Bohner. Boehner announced last week that he will step down as speaker at the end of October.
Chaffetz officially announced his bid for speaker on "Fox News Sunday," saying that McCarthy is a "good man" who has a "math problem" driven by conservatives' discontent, and that he's being recruited to enter the race.
He said with Boehner's retirement coming amid growing discontent from the party's right wing, Republicans shouldn't promote a member of his leadership team.
"You don't just give automatic promotion to the existing leadership team," he said. "That doesn't signal change. I think they want a fresh face and a fresh, new person who's actually there at the leadership table in the speaker's role."
Right now, McCarthy has the support of the GOP conference but will have a problem winning a majority on a floor vote of all congressman.
"We were entrusted by the American people with the largest majority Republicans have ever had since Babe Ruth was swinging the baseball bat, but they didn't send us here to perpetuate the status quo," Chaffetz said Sunday.
"They want us to take that fight to the Senate," he said, alluding to the GOP-led chamber. "They want us to take that fight to the president."
Chaffetz' announcement comes on the heels of McCarthy's controversial comments on the House committee investigating Benghazi. McCarthy credited the committee for Hillary Clinton's declining poll numbers, characterizing the committee as a political tool.
"I am running for speaker of the House of Representatives because I want to lead the way on tackling the toughest issues facing the United States of America," said Chaffetz in the statement issued Sunday.
"The American people have entrusted Republicans with the largest majority since the 1920's, but with that majority comes a responsibility to get the job done that we were elected to do," he said. "I came to Congress to help fix problems, and as speaker I will fight every day to make that happen. I look forward to sharing my vision for the speakership with my colleagues and the American people."
