Key conservative says plan to make McHenry temporary speaker faces heavy GOP opposition

Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, a key voice of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said Wednesday he remains hopeful House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan can become the next House speaker while warning a compromise plan to give Rep. Patrick McHenry temporary speaker powers would be opposed by scores of Republicans. 

"I would be surprised if it was fewer than 80 to 100 votes" Biggs told the John Solomon Reports podcast when asked about a temporary speakership for McHenry. "I was talking to people who aren't in my echo chamber, just you know, what do you think of that? And these people were roundly, 'No, absolutely not. That's a bad idea. It's dangerous.'"

Biggs said a large loss of GOP lawmakers would force McHenry to woo Democrat votes and that would make him more indebted to Democrats seeking concessions during a temporary tenure.

"I've heard all kinds of things might be used to entice them," he said. "But it seems to me like it's too big a hill for it to be climbed, quite frankly."

While Jordan lost his second vote for speaker in two days -- this time finishing with two fewer GOP votes than he had on Tuesday -- Biggs said he believed there were optimistic signs despite the 22 defectors.

"That tells me that Jim is in better shape than his opponents would like," Biggs said. "He's in better shape than some of the media that are watching would like. And I believe, based on what I've been seeing and tracking, there's a couple of ... cliques within the conference right now that are holding out. They've been identified now, Jim is going to work with them, and I think he can overcome it. That's the good news. That's the takeaway people should get."

"I think it's a hopeful message if you support Jim Jordan," Biggs added. "The reason I say that is because the prognosticators around here believed that he would fall somewhere between the 30, and 40 vote ... gap."

According to Biggs, when former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was being voted in, he roughly had the same numbers that Jordan currently does. It took McCarthy 15 rounds to be elected speaker. 

Biggs added that he hopes that the House can have a new speaker by Friday of this week. He said that Jordan just needs to work with and win over those that currently oppose him. 

"I think we're in for a medium term," Biggs said. "I would hope that by the time Friday afternoon comes, we'd have a new speaker. I'm an optimist on this. I don't mind saying that my optimism might be wrong. But I think Jim needs to exert his personality and work with these folks. And if he does, I think that they'll come around."