McCarthy formally endorses Stefanik for Cheney’s leadership spot

House minority leader denounces effort to condemn Trump’s election fraud claims

WASHINGTON — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California officially backed Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York to replace Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as the Republican conference chair during an appearance Sunday on Fox News.

“Yes, I do,” he said when asked by Sunday Morning Futures host Maria Bartiromo whether he supported Stefanik as the party’s future No. 3 leader in the House.

It is the first time that McCarthy has officially endorsed Stefanik as a replacement for Cheney, though Axios reported last week the GOP leader had said he had “had it with her” — meaning Cheney — during an off-air conversation with Fox News’ Steve Doocy that was caught on a live microphone.

McCarthy avoided mentioning Cheney by name Sunday as he spoke about the campaign to oust her over her dogged efforts to denounce former President Donald Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 election. Cheney has accused Trump and others who continue to claim that President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory was illegitimate of “spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”

“Any member can take whatever position they believe in . ... What we’re talking about is a position in leadership . ... As conference chair, you have one of the most critical jobs as a messenger going forward,” McCarthy said when asked whether Cheney was clinging too fiercely to a “never Trump” position.

McCarthy rattled off a list of priorities around which the GOP had to “be united” moving forward, such as immigration and the southern border, tax policy, and jobs and inflation numbers in the recovering economy.

“We need a conference chair that is delivering that message day in and day out and uniting the nation,” he said.

Cheney has a far more conservative policy record than Stefanik, who has often broken with the party line, despite her vocal support for Trump and his efforts to contest the 2020 election results. In 2017, she broke with the GOP to vote against Trump’s tax plan.

Cheney, who has criticized Trump’s fearmongering about the 2020 election, was otherwise largely in lockstep with his policies, as well as those of the greater GOP.