On eve of vote, McCarthy speakership bid in further peril, nine in caucus send non-support letter

Nine members of the House Republican Conference on Monday sent House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a letter of non-support – another setback in his bid to become speaker with the vote scheduled for Wednesday.

The letter said electing McCarthy would be a "continuation of past and ongoing Republican failures."

Republicans now control the House with 222 members, and McCarthy essentially needs the support of 218 in the full floor vote to become speaker.

The letter was signed by Reps. Scott Perry, of Pennsylvania; Paul Gosar, of Arizona; Chip Roy, of Texas; Dan Bishop, of North Carolina; Andy Harris, of Maryland; and Andrew Clyde, of Georgia, along with Rep.-elects Andy Nogales, of Tennessee; Anna Paulina Luna, of Florida, and Eli Crane, of Arizona. All are among the conference's most conservative members.

"For someone with a 14-year presence in senior House Republican leadership, Mr. McCarthy bears squarely the burden to correct the dysfunction he now explicitly admits across that long tenure," the letter reads.

The comment appears to be in response to a letter McCarthy wrote on New Year's Eve titled, "Restoring the People's House and Ending Business as Usual" in which he discussed the dysfunction in the House and vowed to fix it.

The nine House Republicans also wrote in response: "Despite some progress achieved, Mr. McCarthy's statement comes almost impossibly late to address continued deficiencies ahead of the opening of the 118th Congress on January 3rd."