Congressman: Alternate House speaker candidate would be 'outside of the House' if McCarthy fails

Fitzpatrick predicted that McCarthy would ultimately become the new speaker
Rep. Fitzpatrick
By Nicholas Ballasy

Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said Tuesday that someone "outside of the House" would likely be an alternate candidate for speaker of the chamber if House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy fails to garner enough votes during the election.

"I don't think there's enough people that are willing to set the precedent that you can work for four years and bring a party from the minority to the majority and get jettison at the end," Fitzpatrick said on CNN. "Nobody’s ever going to put the work in if that happens so the impedance would be to go outside the House at that point."

Fitzpatrick, co-chair of the bipartisan House Problem Solvers Caucus, declined the suggest a specific alternate candidate from outside the House for speaker. He predicted that McCarthy would ultimately become the new speaker.