House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's allies made several calls to Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, over the weekend to request that he switch parties in order to expand the Republican majority, sources told The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.
Multiple people familiar with the calls said that Cuellar, who is a member of the powerful appropriations committee, was offered committee positions and asked what he wanted in return for switching parties. However, he turned down the offers.
McCarthy spokesman Mark Bednar said the calls were not made at the request of the minority leader, stating that "anyone suggesting this is simply exercising in fan fiction."
Bednar insisted that "leader McCarthy is going to be elected speaker by the current and newly-elected members of the House Republican Conference," adding that "our efforts are exclusively focused on bringing our conference together and saving the country," The Wall Street Journal reported.
But the reported attempt to sway Cuellar comes as McCarthy tries to gain enough support to become House speaker next year after Republicans apparently won far fewer seats than expected in the House in the midterm elections and amid a growing conservative rebellion against his candidacy, according to Politico.
Cuellar, the only antiabortion House Democrat serving in Congress, defeated GOP challenger Cassy Garcia on Election Day, even though the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with McCarthy, spent some $5 million in an attempt to oust him, according to The Wall Street Journal.
On Monday, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz asked McCarthy during a GOP closed door member meeting if he would solicit or accept the backing of Democrats in his bid to become speaker, to which McCarthy responded "no, and I never have," according to two people in the room.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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