WASHINGTON — Kevin McCarthy’s 2024 revenge tour is far from over.
Next stop: Arizona, where McCarthy, the former House speaker, hopes to exact 10 pounds of flesh from one of the eight Republicans who orchestrated his inglorious ouster last year.
That fellow GOPer is first-term Rep. Eli Crane, a retired Navy SEAL who currently holds Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District.
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Crane confirmed to Raw Story that McCarthy is gunning for him. But he says he’s ready for the onslaught of politics as usual from the Californian who’s come to represent the worst of the Washington establishment to many MAGA-minded conservatives.
“The Kevin revenge tour is pretty pathetic, but at the end of the day, I expect it and I'm not gonna cry about it. I'm just gonna beat the s— out of whatever he sends after me. And that’s what I’m doing,” Crane told Raw Story.
McCarthy’s got a list and is checking it once
Crane pursued McCarthy’s ouster because he and his seven other insurgents didn’t like the way McCarthy was running the House. They took particular exception to McCarthy’s passage of continuing resolutions — or CRs — to fund the government at previous years’ levels, as opposed to going to the mats fighting Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden for smaller government.
While he’s got a fight on his hands, Crane was ready for it when he took on the GOP status quo as embodied by McCarthy.
“A lot of you were sent here with a mandate to shake up that status quo?” Raw Story inquired.
“Damn straight. It's why I've had, you know, a primary challenger handpicked to get rid of me,” Crane said.
A McCarthy-backed challenger has almost become a badge of courage for Crane, especially on the stump when he’s highlighting his differences with his opponent, former Yavapai County Supervisor Jack Smith — and the centrist Republicans funding the intramural challenge.
“It's unfortunate. But what I say to people is, if you come to this place and you just say, ‘I’m gonna shake this place up,’ it's only a matter of time before the machine comes after you,” Crane said. “The strength at which they come after you, I think, you know, depends on many different things. But at the end of the day, I don't take it personally. It's just how it works.”
McCarthy has been sending a lot of targeted ill will in many directions this primary season.
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While the former speaker and the super PACs that do his bidding have mostly missed their marks thus far, they also seem bullish after claiming a big victory against Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Bob Good (R-VA).
Virginia’s elections board last week certified the Republican primary victory of state Sen. John McGuire over Good. But Good has demanded a recount, citing Trump-like “irregularities,” he’s down by just some 300 votes to McGuire.
With a ghostlike assist from McCarthy — who never campaigned in the state, in spite of Good goading him to stump in Virginia’s sprawling 5th District — that primary earned the infamous rank as the second most expensive primary so far this election cycle.
“Seven million is painful,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Raw Story. “I mean, it is intense, and it is extremely painful.”
Mace should know. She destroyed her McCarthy backed opponent by 27 points, but it wasn’t an easy path to victory.
“Have you got any advice for some of your colleagues who are getting primaried by McCarthy?” Raw Story inquired.
“I was my own campaign manager. I ran my own race,” Mace told Raw Story. “I did my own data. I did it all.”
McCarthy’s allies in the House
While the eight conservatives being hunted by McCarthy have each other’s backs, the former speaker still maintains a deep bench of Republican politicians in Washington. They’ve been cheering since declaring victory over Good.
“Good for Kevin McCarthy,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told Raw Story.
In May, Bacon beat back a challenge from Omaha businessman and conservative hardliner Dan Frei. Good backed his opponent, which Bacon’s still smarting over.
“I contributed to his opponent. Bob Good made a mistake coming after people like me. I normally stay out of people's races, but you couldn't give us the green light to respond,” Bacon said. “Bob Good is not good for the district or good for the House.”
Crane hasn’t poked around in his GOP colleugue’s primaries like Good did, so he gets a pass from Bacon and others.
“I have not. But Eli Crane stayed out of my race,” Bacon, who’s running for his fifth term, said.
While McCarthy and the more centrist wing of the GOP he represents in Congress have been at war with the far-right Freedom Caucus for years now, the group’s members laugh off the bitter challenges from the center-right.
“Look, Freedom Caucus is growing. We got members that are coming in that, you know, agree with what we're doing,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) told Raw Story. “Politics is fluid. Every day is a new day.”
Still, Norman and other members are upset that the Freedom Caucus chair seems to be heading for the exits in January.
“I hate what happened [to Good], but it is what it is. They tried to get people against me, because I'd gone against McCarthy,” Norman said. “But look, everybody — we’re all free agents. I don't mind. I don't think this is personal.”
Other Republicans have been trying to avoid getting involved with McCarthy and his revenge tour.
“Honestly, I haven’t been paying attention. I'm focused on beating the Democrats,” Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) — chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee this cycle — told Raw Story. “So honestly, I couldn’t tell you what he's been up to. I want more Republicans in Congress. I wake up every morning thinking about beating Democrats.”
“But some of your incumbents are losing and it's harder in a general election without an incumbent?” Raw Story pushed.
“Think we’re gonna lose Virginia’s 5th District?” Hudson said of the district that’s rated “Solid Republican” by the Cook Political Report.
While Hudson was a part of McCarthy’s leadership team, he says he hasn’t seen McCarthy in a while and when he last did, GOP primaries didn’t come up.
“I haven’t had one strategy conversation with him,” Hudson said.
“He was a moneymaker,” Raw Story pressed. “Honestly, you don't need McCarthy bucks anymore?”
“Well, we need all the bucks we can get to beat Democrats,” Hudson admitted to Raw Story.
Next up: Matt Gaetz
The last stop for McCarthy’s revenge tour is slated for Florida, where Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) faces McCarthy-backed Republican Aaron Dimmock, a former Navy pilot, in the Sunshine State’s primary on Aug. 19.
Before that knock down, drag out contest, Crane faces Arizona voters in the state’s July 30 primary.
While McCarthy’s been a quiet force punching from the proverbial political graveyard, Crane laughs off the former speaker.
He especially mocks McCarthy for showing his true cards and retiring from the House once it was clear he wouldn’t be getting the speaker’s gavel back.
“The fact that he bailed and left because he couldn’t be speaker — look, as a man I can look at Kevin McCarthy, the guy worked really hard to get where he's at, even though him and I don't have the same worldview. But when, ‘Oh, I can’t become speaker, so I'm gonna take my ball and go home,’” Crane told Raw Story. “It's pretty pathetic.”
