how will this impact kevin mccarthy? >> i think what we have heard over the last couple days, miserable, ugly, as nia-malika said yesterday, they're sometimes known's the raucous caucus. they will throw bombs and blow things up just because they can. that's what kevin mccarthy is facing here. it's interesting to me he has not said anything about donald trump right now while a lot of republicans are saying they're happening to move on, because kevin mccarthy probably needs donald trump right now, because he needs him to call the raucous caucus and say, c'mon, get on board. >> nia, mitch mcconnell says he's proud of the 37-10 victory to remain the party's leader, but he's facing significant pushback. how is this working out for him. >> he will be the senate minority leader, which he faces this challenge, and in some ways it's about the split in the republican party, but what direction should it go in? should it still cling to donald trump or go in a different direction? mitch mcconnell wants the old dales back when the par

kevin mccarthy doesn't have the votes. if in fact he becomes speaker which i suspect he will, he will be leading a caucus of members who don't agree on very many things who are very willing, especially with the freedom caucus and other more extreme members to vote against party leadership. you can say a lot of things about nancy pelosi, when she has been speaker, but she kept the democratic caucus together with very narrow majority and i'm not sure that kevin mccarthy has the political chops or the ability with this raucous republican caucus to be able to do that. and if we come to the presidential election, trace and we have a republican congress that has only investigated hunter biden and hasn't addressed any of the policy issues that voters sent them to washington to address, they are going to have a problem in the next election. >> trace: just to marie's point very quickly, brian. they tonight have. to say they can protest votes. they don't have to vote no. they can vote present. they could not show up and lower that 2

i know you're a supporter of kevin mccarthy. what are you telling your colleagues who are denying him their support right now? >> well, i think we have a lot of time between now and january 3rd. i'm of the opinion that on january 3rd, we'll come together as a conference and elect kevin mccarthy to be speaker of the house. i think this is something that's ongoing. there are certainly five to eight members who have said they're leaning towards voting no against kevin mccarthy. they have a right to support whoever they want. they have their opinions, they have their goals, many of them on my committee, i'm friends with them, but i'm hopeful at the end of the day we'll come together and elect kevin. we had an election between kevin mccarthy and my friend andy biggs, and kevin had won by nearly 200 votes. >> what is the most credible critique of kevin mccarthy that you think is fair from them that they're making? >> well, certainly there's been instances in the past that certain republicans' voices weren't heard in the conference, bu

we could see the challenge who will emerge to kevin mccarthy. andy bigs would not confirm he's running, but he did promise there would be a challenger. jake, the republicans in the conservative freedom caucus want to have more leverage over the speaker, something that mccarthy has not yet agree dsed to. mitch mcconnell was asked if he has the votes to stay as republican leader and he said of course. jake. >> manu raju on capitol hill, thanks so much. >>> in arizona, six days after election day, ballots are still being counted in the high profile governor's race. right now democratic candidate, katie hobbs is leading by 24,000 votes over republican candidate kari lake. nearly 175,000 votes are still outstanding and need to be counted. cnn's kyung lah is inside the maricopa county election center in phoenix. when do we expect the next update on vote totals? >> reporter: in just about four hours, jake, we're anticipating that maricopa county will release another batch of votes in that 6:00 p.m. local time, 8:00 p.m. eastern time hour, and this is a

kevin mccarthy doesn't have room to sit around and wait and he's moving forward. i get why he's doing it. they're going to have leadership elections next week. it's going to be interesting to see how it goes. a leadership election inside the conference doesn't matter a whole lot. he needs 50% of his colleagues to nominate him to be speaker, but ultimately he has to get 218 votes on the house floor in january. he could easily slide through an election inside the conference, but two months from now, when they actually go to the floor, that's an eternity. what i will be looking for, are there the freedom caucus members, far right of the conference r they going to try to extort anything out of kevin mccarthy for their vote to be speaker? i think he has the inside track to be the next speaker. i think members want him to be the next speaker, but only takes -- a margin of three or four or five seats it only takes that many folks to say i'm not going to give my vote to you unless, what those are we'll have to figure out, but i expect there will be conflict from now to ja

mccarthy. >> he has failed to support our fight against the democrats. >> kevin mccarthy is a coward and history will not be kind to him. >> i think the country wants a different direction. >> this is bigger than kevin mccarthy. this is about maga extremists overwhelming the gop. mccarthy now having to confront the reality he'll have to appease these extremists who threaten to impeach biden officials like the homeland security secretary. even though just weeks ago mccarthy said no one in the biden administration had done anything to warrant impeachment. the last two republican speaker, john boehner and paul ryan, repeatedly clashed with far-right republicans. both of them eventually resigned from congress. my advice for mccarthy, don't count your chickens before they hatch. joining me now is former gop communications director, now senior adviser at the lincoln project. tara, thank you for being here tonight. first question out of the gate, are the bells tolling for mccarthy's speaker bid, or are the reports of his death exaggerated? >> i've been saying for a very long time that kevin

kevin mccarthy needs help. remember kevin mccarthy after january 6th went to the floor said donald trump bears responsibility, count to ten, he went to mar-a-lago and kissed the ring and said never mind. this on cnn today, kevin mccarthy seeks to asuage concerns, for house speaker. believe the california republican will be an asset down the road, should the former president find himself in a contested 2024 primary. again, it's not about policy. it's not about direction of the republican party. it's about trump thinks this is in his personal self-interest if he has leverage over the house speaker period. >> yeah, that's right skprgs t, and that is where we have seen that mentality kind of infect the republican party. it is a party that is now focused in many ways on leveraging power based on personal grievances, and tiffs, et cetera. that is where i can tell you that the white house is as much as they know that republicans having subpoena power and investigations is going to be problematic for them, they also ve

kevin mccarthy has to win the speakership. if he thinks his conference should go along with legislation, say, something the senate passes, he will do whatever he has to to. thing for something he does not want past. i cannot see something like the pastor droll, which is not cast in stone -- host: it is part of the conference rules. what do we know kevin mccarthy, leader mccarthy's plans legislatively? what is their plan for the next congress? guest: they have identified three things. they want to bring inflation down, although it is not clear what a republican held house with a democratic senate and democratic white house can get done -- lower crime. he has been vague. , the border of course -- the border, of course. a lot of this will be sending messages rather than passing legislation. kevin mccarthy is trying to keep it all together. you have the presidential race gearing up. donald trump has already announced he is running. you have a lot of republicans acting like they will probably run. he can attempt to be an island of

he is essentially taking whatever he can get from kevin mccarthy right now. holding him hostage as the rest of the party is trying to persuade him not to announce his president -- his candidacy for president, so that the senate can at least hold on to a potential majority in georgia. there is a feeling that there could be a 2020 redo if the former president campaigns and georgia the way that he previously had, and if he makes the race about him, and about his candidacy. but trump is doing everything in its power to make sure that does not happen starting with kevin mccarthy, endorsing him otherwise pulling his speakership endorsement from him. >> yeah. my free advice for what it is worth to anyone listening, i think trump should be in georgia every day, i think you should be driving every news cycle, and really trying to work on that race down there for the republicans. jacqueline alemany and tim miller, have a great weekend, thank you. >> thanks, chris. >> coming up, fox news in the republican party begin to see donald trump for the loser that he is. >> the

i know you served with kevin mccarthy. what will happen 35 days from now and it's potentially historic. we could see kevin mccarthy face a floor fight for speaker, and that has not happened in a century. literally a century. the longest was 133 ballots over two months. is the position with the makeup of a republican caucus -- the question is, is it worth the fight for kevin mccarthy? if it takes that much to take the job, imagine the challenges if he gets it? >> that's a great question, alex, but kevin mccarthy is doing everything he can to project strength ahead of the vote. he withdrew and did not take the speaker fight to the floor. this time he's saying that's not going to happen again whether you give me the votes or not, we will have the vote on the house floor. if kevin mccarthy doesn't get the 218 votes he will need or half or however house members are present, can any other republican get to that number without democratic support. a lot of people -- by the way, alex, there are democrats that privately said they wo

i support kevin mccarthy. we need to unify and we need to figure out what the hell happened in the mid-terms. >> harris: in focus former utah congressman and oversight committee chairman as well jason chaffetz. first senior congressional correspondent chad pergram. >> good morning. the g.o.p. is one away from winning the house majority. in california long-time republican ken calvert claimed re-election. the same with michelle steele. however, without the house results finalized republicans will hold leadership elections today. kevin mccarthy faces and i biggs of the freedom caucus. marjorie taylor green is aligned with mccarthy. >> for someone who votes for the president's conviction. you can go over to the area and see piles and piles of borrowed fencing. some welded together into panels getting ready to be installed. some of us just in the individual piping. >> that was not march or see taylor green. she stands behind kevin mccarthy. the bar is lower for him to win in the closed door meeting today. he only n

yes, ma'am. >> were you surprised -- by the announcement by kevin mccarthy? will you be whipping some of those vote for him? >> i i will be talking with my colleagues and explain my reasons for supporting him a speaker. i have good reasons for that. we have a very slim majority. this is why it is so important for us to stay unified and get behind him. as our speaker because we cannot open the door to the democrats peeling off several republicans and working together to choose a speaker that they would control. we have to have the gavel. that is extremely important because the gavel means subpoena power and republicans need subpoena power going over the next two years. yes, ma'am? >> what concessions do you think -- [inaudible] what changes will make them comfortable supporting leader mccarthy on january 1st? >> they have introduced a rules package they are interested in talking with him about and that has been public. it has been published. they are discussing those rules package is and talking about different positions on committees as far as chairmanships a

what's going on with kevin mccarthy? does he have the votes and what he did at the border, is it a stunt? should they be talking more about practical, real solutions to the immigration crisis? >> don, i think it's all related. i think the reason he's on the border is because of this issue. his desire to be the next speaker of the house. i think that kevin mccarthy has the worst odds of being the next house speaker except for all the other republicans because you can't beat somebody with nobody. so when the question becomes if not kevin mccarthy, who? there's really no name you can fill in the blank that you'll be able to herd a sufficient number of cats to get to the 218 or whatever the number might be because they vote by surname, it could be 216. i don't see anyone who could deny him. >> you say he has the worst odds but think he's going to be speaker? >> it's my weak attempt at a pun. he has the worst odds except for all the others because i don't see anybody with better odds than he does. >> okay. >> it's interesting

♪ ♪ ♪ >> tonight on all in -- >> if we don't unify behind kevin mccarthy, we're opening up the door for the democrats -- >> at the first opportunity, he will zap her faster than you can say jewish space laser. >> leaders fight for the house and senate upside down. >> are you yourself back image mitch miconnel? >> i would do much better than mcconnell. >> tonight, a republican party in absolute chaos, as a disgraced ex president returns to lead them. >> this is certainly not the rollout i am sure donald trump wanted for his announcement tonight. >> plus rick houston on how democracy failed in the face of maga. >> what happened last night with kari lake, that's positive that this magazine of does not work. >> and what the pentagon, russians and nato are saying about the explosion that killed two people over the ukraine border in poland? all in starts right now. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ good evening from new york, i'm chris hayes. there's a lot going on right now, a lot sprawling around us. right now, we're waiting from our decision desk to potentially ca

kevin mccarthy. a friend of theirs is marjorie taylor greene who has been a mccarthy critic who tweeted this, video of the border visit saying this should give conservatives a glimpse of the kind of speaker kevin mccarthy will be and why i'm supporting him. he is requiring mayorkas to resign or face investigations leading to impeachment. more things like this to come. >> it shows you exactly what the republican party's problem is is that really what people were voting for out in the country and what they wanted them to be focusing all of their time on so it's such a good example of how, you know, this very small amount of people can continue dragging the party to the right along pursuits that don't aggress what the concerns are of the voters on inflation and all the things that led them to vote for republicans in the first place. >> and yet before you jump in just if we could show those five again, these are five people who would support aggressive oversight even investigations moving on to impeachme

i don't think joe biden should chase kevin mccarthy around the southern border. he have is waiting to see if the republican congress will have ideas here. >> i don't think kevin mccarthy actually thought the president would say i'll take you on, let's go on a road trip. but at the same time he is looking for solutions. you just mentioned the president wants solutions. the problem is the one solution that did work is about to expire and that's title 42, jason, on december 21st. with the number of illegal migrants crossing our border with over 2.3 million in the year of 2022. over 200,000 in october alone, it does not spell for a good outcome in 2023 already. i don't really see the administration seeming all that concerned about it. >> you're right. the judge who made this call on title 42 said it was a pandemic-era policy and the pandemic is over and he is right. the pandemic is over. but the border crisis is not over. border patrol needs this tool. it has been quite effective. the problem with the administration and i would remind marie that not only do democrats

if kevin mccarthy is the speaker of the house, would they put that on the floor? >> it would pass. >> exactly. the same thing happened after the 2012 election would barack obama was reelected. this was a time when many republicans. but the party needed to do -- many republicans believed that the party be needed to the hispanic center. -- it would've gotten to the house if john boehner had not been on the floor. >> it was basically the same group of people who basically threatened him. >> exactly, i think what we are likely to see is some spectacle, you will see high-profile investigations where, hunter biden, joe biden, -- all of that stuff, that will have no legislative impact, but it will have it -- political impact one way or another, i don't know which way it will run. there are some issues that could be slightly less partisan. you could, for example, have a free-trade agreement with taiwan. that would be possible. because anti-china sentiment is pretty widespread at this moment within congress. small things like that. otherwise, it's about keeping government

kevin mccarthy has set fundraising record after record and no one can raise more money than kevin mccarthy as we support candidates and have to keep the house, win at the senate and take back the white house in 2024. that is something extremely important as well. speaking of 2024, we know president trump has a special announcement tonight and i will say right now, president trump has my full endorsement and support as our republican nominee in 2024. [indiscernible] >> we have to have the gavel. that is extremely important because the gavel means subpoena power and republicans need subpoena power the next two years. yes ma'am? >> what to do you think the house caucus wants to see? [inaudible] >> they introduced a rules package they are interested in talking with him about and it has been published. they are discussing those rules packages and talking about different positions on committees as far as chairmanships are concerned. those are the types of things they have talked with him about and he has been great. he is talking with everybody, all wings of our party and i like that in a leader

i remind people, kevin mccarthy ran for speaker in 2015. there were 248 house republicans and he couldn't secure the votes then. this time around there might be 220, 221, 222 house republicans. it's going to be harder. there's goodwill for kevin mccarthy in the conference. he's liked by many of his colleagues. this is an uphill battle for him. >> so interesting. thank you. >>> president biden is abroad with unexpected momentum thanks to key midterm wins, but also an improving economy. does that translate to political power? >>> plus, florida deja vu after nicole hammers the eastern coast. >>> also secretary austin is speaking to vietnam vets. you're watching "chris jansing reports" only on msnbc. y on msnc you can make it even smarter. now ports can know where every piece of cargo is. and where it's going. (dock worker) right on time. (vo) robots can predict breakdowns and order their own replacement parts. (foreman) nice work. (vo) and retailers can get ahead of the fashion trend of the day with a new line tomorrow. with a verizon private

mccarthy, you say kevin who. do you think he's fit to be speaker of the house? >> that's a decision ultimately that the house republican conference is going to have to make. he does seem to be struggling to get to 218. let's see what happens on january 3rd. >> there is going to be, because of the narrow majority the house republicans are going to have, the far right wing, the maga caucus is going to be empowered and emboldened. it's going to make it tougher for mccarthy to govern as speaker if he does in fact become speaker. if kevin mccarthy needs votes to pass essentially legislation, such as keeping the government open, other raising the debt limit, will democrats be willing to help him if the freedom caucus folks, the marjorie taylor greenes of the world refuse to participate? >> well, it seems to me that that's a case by case basis, but democrats have always been willing to lean in on making sure we fully fund the government and democrats have always been willing to lean in in making sure we meet our nation'

yeah, kevin mccarthy seemingly confident. but he is already really having to navigate some head winds in his quest to become speaker. he had originally wanted to gain at least 20 seats to cushion, not only his majority in the house, but, to cushion his race in the speaker. make it easier for him to win the speakership. so this will be an uphill battle for him. we have already seen that play out because the republicans did not win as many seat as they originally wanted to. they are facing a slimmer majority and we are seeing the more conservative elements of the republican party, namely the house freedom caucus already tried to exert their control and leverage some power here. now, sources tell cnn about potentially two dozen current incoming members are potentially willing to vote against kevin mccarthy for the next speaker and a source telling cnn they are even considering the potential of running essentially a long shot challenger to him in order to exert some concessions from him ahead of time. now, as kevin mccarthy, we h

kevin mccarthy is talking about not writing blank checks. you have some more extreme house members, republican house members saying they don't want to send money at all or to significantly curb it. that's just an untenable situation to deal with and most of the people at the table don't want this issue to come up in a couple off months. >> this was a fascinating snapshot at what a mccarthy/mcconnell leadership will look like in the future. mcconnell with specific ideas about how to govern and get things done, he is not somebody who, for example, thinks a government shutdown is a productive way to do business and knows if they put it off, if they end up doing something continuing, you heard nancy pelosi say if we do that it will be a year long, right, mccarthy is talking about a matter of months, that puts a lot of power potentially in the house -- the hands of house republicans in terms of threatening a government shutdown that would be removed from him if they can, in fact, get the budget done. mcconnell knows the power that comes with the

can kevin mccarthy find the votes to become speaker of the house? we want to buy your car so go to carvana enter your license plate answer a few questions and our tetechno wizardry calculates your car's value and gives you a real offer in seconds when you're ready we'll come to you pay you on the spot and pick up your car that's it so ditch the old way of selling your car and say hello to the new way at carvana your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indeed instant mat instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job scription. visit indeed.com/hire ♪ subway's drafting 12 new subs for the all-new subway series menu the new monster has juicy steak and crispy bacon. but what about the new boss? it looks so good it makes me hangry! settle down there, big guy the new subway series. what's your pick? >>> congress is back this week for a year-end session and kevin mccarthy is leaning on his allies for help. republicans stake charge in the house in 36 days, but the house gop l

so this is a test of kevin mccarthy. it is a test of how many votes can marjorie taylor greene keep together? it is a test of donald trump. if he wants his kevin as speaker of the house, he has to twist some arms to get it for him. >> it is hard to see you without your shadow. >> they wouldn't let me bring it. when you get to chuck, you talk about volatility, i met chuck when he was thinking about going home to alabama to run for governor as a republican. that's how long i've known chuck and that's how much politics have changed in the last 20 years. >> we'll see what we know about chuck. we'll learn a lot and we'll relay that story. thank you. hopefully he's watching. thank you, john king, always a pleasure. appreciate it. >> have a good day. >> thank you, john. >>> former vice president mike pence will join our very own jake tapper for a live cnn town hall tomorrow night 9:00 p.m. eastern right here. >>> she was widely seen as one of the most vulnerable senate democrats in the country. she has handily beat her trump-ba

mccarthy and she will support him and jim jordan has stuck by kevin mccarthy's side because he is likely to be the next chair of the judiciary committee and it seems that kevin mccarthy will have a hands off approach in terms of what type of investigations he will allow someone like jim jordan to take on, as a member of the judiciary committee. but that doesn't mean that mccarthy is in the clear by any stretch. there is a lot of work to do now between now and the beginning of january and keep in mind this is not a closed door vote with republicans and it is on the house floor and it gives the far right membership measures of the house of representatives to use every opportunity they can to get what they want from kevin mccarthy if he is going to be the next speaker of the house. >> ryan nobles live on the hill, thank you. >>> across town in dc, lawyers for five oath keepers telling jurors today, the government they say lied about evidence when building the case for seditious conspiracy, as part of the seven week trial, kind of a big deal, right, because it is the most high profile januar

kevin mccarthy has 43 days to convince them to think otherwise. he says they need to think twice so they can get things done. >> all of the investigations have to happen. securing the border, stopping the movement. none of that can move forward without. it is was being challenged to make sure the condition is there. but, we have to work as one conference. if four vote one way, four can vote of the. we have to unite on republicans. >> with me to share reporting and insight, and generally, cohost of the new york times. carl, he doesn't need when he says it is nice to be jumped. he didn't want to be challenged. the question is, can he convince them to vote for him or to try some parliamentary maneuver, vote present, do something so he gets a majority of those present and he is the next bigger or is he in trouble? >> he has work to do, obviously. he admitted that. 30 people voted against him. 30 some, for the leadership to be the nominee. a certain number already saying they won't vote for him. he has very few boats to spare. it is majority, not to 18

kevin mccarthy is very interested. today congressman andy biggs of arizona, it sounds like he might be a contender to compete with kevin mccarthy. here is what he told cnn. we need to have a real discussion about whether kevin mccarthy should be the speaker, a frank discussion internally about where we're going to be going forward. do you think kevin mccarthy will become the next speaker? >> i think it's more likely that it's kevin than anyone else. he certainly has more votes and more support than anyone. one thing i heard yesterday from a member of congress on the longer list of people who might be speaker if it's not kevin mccarthy, he shut down any conversation, didn't even want to broach the very topic. so kevin will have a lot of people whipping for him to try and get there. obviously the party has some decisions to make. we need to decide if we're going to continue to be the my pillow party or a republican party that's about conservative ideals and being a check and balance on the biden administration. i'd sure

>> well, he's kevin mccarthy. he's not nancy pelosi. he wants to be speaker, and he's got these not cases and chickens, as i want to call them. >> chicken [bleep]? >> yeah. it's gonna be a zoo. it's gonna be a zoo, i mean david knows the house better than i do. we'll have these hearings about hunter biden, they'll -- i hope we don't get to the debt ceiling with them. i hope we get to that before -- give them the lame duck. i don't know how long is gonna last. i don't get long. >> they've been, if they go with a hunter biden bonanza, what's the rebound pelicans strategy? that's gonna be the biggest gift to the democrats going into 2024. >> it is. put me in the camp i don't think kevin mccarthy can get the votes to be speaker. he's the front runner, no one's ahead of him, but i'm not sure he can get to 18. if he does, this leads to the premise of your question, stephanie. the question will be, what is he giving away? you might have to promise to bring the whole house town for the opportunity to lead it. it'll be an incredibly weak speaker

kevin mccarthy is a coward. if he becomes speaker, it will be the worst time in his life and history will not be kind to him. >> david, it is very difficult to listen to blame donald trump when the people who had the power to do something about donald trump both before january 6th and after did what you just heard kinzinger say, your thoughts. >> thaurngs thank you, thank you, we are letting people getting away for blaming donald trump for last tuesday. the truth is exactly as you have presented, he has been enabled and celebrated by a party. more son so than that, i don't like the word trumpisment the truth is today's republican party has embraced this populism that donald trump introduced to the party, embraced with open arms by the likes of mitch mcconnell, kevin mccarthy, and candidates up and down the republican ticket. donald trump has reshaped the party in his image. he did things that violated the constitution and kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell and weak kneed leaders let him get away with it. this is

if kevin mccarthy is the speaker of the house, would they put that on the floor? >> it would pass. >> exactly. the same thing happened after the 2012 election would barack obama was reelected. this was a time when many republicans. but the party needed to do -- many republicans believed that the party be needed to the hispanic center. -- it would've gotten to the house if john boehner had not been on the floor. >> it was basically the same group of people who basically threatened him. >> exactly, i think what we are likely to see is some spectacle, you will see high-profile investigations where, hunter biden, joe biden, -- all of that stuff, that will have no legislative impact, but it will have it -- political impact one way or another, i don't know which way it will run. there are some issues that could be slightly less partisan. you could, for example, have a free-trade agreement with taiwan. that would be possible. because anti-china sentiment is pretty widespread at this moment within congress. small things like that. otherwise, it's about keeping government

kevin mccarthy's panel to speakership is complicated. i think it's more likely that we see mccarthy become speaker and be challenged in that role than to see a big fight over him getting it if republicans take the majority. the simply reason is there's not a consensus challenger to mccarthy at this point. probably the people you think as the two most likely, steve scalise, number two, jim jordan, the leader of the far right faction in the house freedom caucus, have both really stapled themselves to mccarthy. they have run as a group. jim jordan will get what he wants out of a speaker mccarthy, the gavel. he will be the chair of the judiciary committee. that's what the freedom caucus has signalled they want. they want their folks in powerful positions. if mccarthy can give it to him, he will be the speaker for a short time. republicans have a pretty strong recent history even of throwing their speakers over the side when things get tough. mccarthy might have a harder job holding on to the job. again, if they take the majority, he will be

i was on a phone conversation with kevin mccarthy on his team call. he has very strong support in our conference. he has worked tirelessly going around all across the country raising $300 million. you know, somehow this is being portrayed as a loss for republicans. i don't quite understand that. we're going to pick up somewhere between 225 to 230 seats. a win is a win. that means, you know, i'll be a the chairman of the foreign affairs committee. have the gavel on subpoena power. kevin mccarthy is in a very good position right now to be the next speaker of the house. a lot of this is sort of palace intrigue, d.c. talk. the fact is jim jordan, the god father of the freedom caucus is in strong support of kevin mccarthy. i don't see that dissension. >> martha: jim jordan is one person as you say, essentially the leader of the freedom caucus who some people think could challenge kevin mccarthy. you think he's lined up in support of a speaker mccarthy? >> i am. and jim will be the chairman of the judiciary committee. jim has an important role. he will do a

mccarthy will be powerless to stop the crazies from moving forward. >> let's listen to what kevin mccarthy said today about the newest announced republican candidacy for president. >> do you support him for president? >> [inaudible] >> stewart's defense, in this chapter of republicans in room, and there is kevin mccarthy legally running away from the question how do you feel about donald trump running for president. >> first of, let me take the opportunity to thank eric swalwell for what he's done in the last few years. what the repairable can party party has become has been an amusement. i'm of the opinion that all these republicans are going to fall in line behind on a trump. and i also think that it's not the best thing for the country in a state rate up to middle political sense it would be better for joe barton for the biden for the republicans to be responsible for the house and democrats control -- it's good to have something against to run against and he can run against something. it's gonna be a bizarre agenda of republicans. i don't think that anybody is going to step up and chal

mccarthy to do all of this because kevin mccarthy is fighting for his life right now. he's trying to become the speaker. >> does this help him become speaker? >> yes, because he has a problem on his right flank. that's where his problem is. people like matt gaetz, marjorie taylor greene, if you don't think that she has extracted an incredible price for public defending kevin mccarthy, for saying we need him as our speaker, she can name her price. she is so empowered in this new majority, and kevin mccarthy is trying desperately to get the hard right flank of his conference to vote for him for speaker. that is his immediate priority, and so what you see there is, no, of course they're not chasing. of course they haven't absorbed all of these lessons from the midterms, no, they're barrelling right ahead. >> barrelling straight ahead. so elizabeth, trumpism may save kevin mccarthy's career, but when you look at the math of, i don't know, the past three elections, does it help them in the next two years become more powerful? >> i don't see how it helps them in the long-ter

mccarthy, never, never, never, or the ones who are saying i will only vote for kevin mccarthy? >> well, they think kevin mccarthy will never get out of this maze, katy. i only hear two republicans saying they are hard never mccarthy-iers, matt gaetz and bob good, everybody else seems to be open at least somewhat to some sort of deal. and i would say this. the tremendously interesting thing right now is in 2015, the last time kevin mccarthy tried to be speaker, the outside conservative voices, which are so powerful in the party, were against him. firmly against him. thought he was a scrub. thought he was a nothing. thought he should not be speaker. this time, they're all behind him, behind steve bannon, who no one really listens to anyway. so what they're trying to do here, what mccarthy's team is trying to do is to really isolate the people who are hard-nosed and make them seem out of touch and blocking the will of the other 220, or 218 republicans who are for mccarthy. now, gun to my head, i don't know if mccarthy is going to be speaker, i couldn't guarantee that. he is by far

melanie sat down with kevin mccarthy on the campaign trail. what did he tell you about what a republican majority was going to look like, what their plans are if they do win the house tomorrow? >> reporter: i met up with the house minority leader here on the texas border where he is rallying for a number of hispanic republican women candidates. and i started by asking him why he chose to be here in the closing days of the campaign. >> i could be anywhere in the country right now. but when you think about it, these are very competitive races. maya flores, which shocked the world, no one thought she could win the seat and won it in the primary. competitive race. she's the first mexican-born woman elected to congress. monica de la cruz, came so close last time. and casey garcia, what a trio of three ladies that are remarkable. we want to give them all the support they can. they represent the district well and you see a change in demographics. when maya won her district was 84% hispanic and shows republicans can compete anywhere in the country. no

what does that mean for a potential house for kevin mccarthy? guest: kevin mccarthy has to channel his inner nancy pelosi and columbia arrowhead the volt -- corral the votes he needs. there's already five house republicans on the record saying no to kevin mccarthy as speaker. it doesn't mean they won't flip. it doesn't mean that they're for kevin mccarthy not the next speaker. there's not a clear alternative to him and they're using their leverage to get something to win over their vote from mr. mccarthy. host: go to calls for linda feldmann and mike on the independent line in circleville, ohio. >> hi, [inaudible] with our congress and senate. we've got two house bills that need passed by the 23rd, s2598, hr9110. this brings bankruptcy protection back to student loans and right now you can't get them paid off or file bankruptcy on them. right now i'm a truck driver and come out of ohio, and i was home with medical stuff through the pandemic and the hospitals didn't have covid and stuff. they need to get off their butt and do something for us for

which will make governing difficult and complicate kevin mccarthy's path to the leadership. they say voters sent a message, people are tired of the divisiveness and the extremism that today's republican party embodies. >> reporter: as the incoming freshman gather today, mccarthy was behind closed doors trying to lockdown the votes to become speaker. and wielding the support of former president donald trump. also winning the backing of the staunch trump ally and controversial conservative marjorie taylor green. >> it is very, very risky right now to produce a leadership challenge, especially for speaker of the house. >> reporter: also backing mccarthy, mike lawler who won one of four gop key races in new york, likely enough to secure the majority. >> i think ultimately, you know, you could always quibble about margins but a majority is a majority. i fully support kevin mccarthy and will support him for speaker. >> reporter: yet mccarthy could only afford to lose a handful of gop votes to win the 218 he needs in january to become speaker. and in arizona andy bigs is considerin

kevin mccarthy is the incoming speaker elect. he's focused on doing what he did today, which is going up to the white house to tell president biden that he was elected as speaker and majority to fight for lower spending and to secure the border. he's not going to get into presidential politics. some of the other quotes you gave, that's not what he's doing. but he's going to condemn anti-semitism. that's a really important s signal, especially when you see how the other side has behaved about this. kevin said when he is elected speaker, he is going to remove anti-semitic speakers so that they will no longer have a platform to spew their hate. he has a very strong record on this. >> ashley? >> i mean, splitting hairs on condemning anti-semitism? you can be as strong as you want and you can say it over and over and over again, and that's what true leaders do. you should say to donald trump you should not meet with him, whether you knew who it was or not, there are so many more ways that kevin mccarthy could be a stronger leader and

the first thing kevin mccarthy has to do is get elected speaker. if it's a tiny republican majority, he doesn't just have to win a majority of the republicans, he has to hit 218 votes, which means he could lose a couple republicans. let's assume it's a tight margin. that gives people like jim jordan, marjorie taylor greene -- i would say boebert, but it looks like she's not going to make it through -- real power to extract concessions for their votes or to simply pick another candidate. this is where you have a real opportunity. i will say this to my democratic colleagues if they are in the minority and it's close. maybe to look for a moderate republican that you can stomach and get democrats to vote for that person with concessions. see if you can peel off a couple republicans. you have a real opportunity for an interesting dynamic that never occurs. i don't expect that to happen. i'm just putting that bug in people's ear. look, on terms of things like the debt limit, kevin mccarthy, assuming he is speaker, will have to reach out to democrats or h

kevin mccarthy has never men's rated demonstrated that prowess. especially you have a lot of conservative folks to the right, freedom caucus members demanding no on spending bills and demanding investigations, maybe even trying to impeach the president, other cabinet officials bid that's going to be a problem 30 and the needle and passing those bills if it is not narrow majority. >> there's a lot of house races yet to call. >> look at oregon again tonight. >> watching that. thank you very much. a look at how you think the shapes up and what it's like for kevin mccarthy in this kind of scenario? >> sitting here thinking, thrilled for the darkest days. i think he can take the speakership no matter the margin because it is true his life will be more difficult by a smaller margin but jim jordan is unquestionably the leader of what people call the freedom caucus but he's not the chair but he's still the leader. he's in lien to be the chairman of the house judiciary committee because he and kevin do have a relationship with the other thing that has not

i don't really know what kevin mccarthy knew or didn't know. i do believe that speaker pelosi is an historical speaker. she's held control for a long time. i haven't agreed with a lot of her positions and the way she's conducted the house. but i admire the fact she's led so long as the speaker. i will say, i did not know she was going to be on the floor giving the speech. many other republicans did not know. it's possible kevin mccarthy did not know either. >> congressman gottheimer, what is your forecast of how this is going to work with such a narrow majority? does that bode well for working together, for meeting each other to get things done? or not? >> i think the republicans are going to have to decide -- i know where don's head is on this. republicans have to decide if they want to sit at the table and work together, which means they have to bring democrats and republicans to the table and be willing to take 80% of what they want, not 100%, to get things done. we have work to do for the country. we have to keep doing it. you don't stop wo

i actually don't know if kevin mccarthy has pledged that. right now to question trench warfare pretty hostile in the speakership. if he thanks his conference would go along with legislation that he is going to do whatever it takes to get his people with him. more likely it's going to be a blocking thing that he does not want passed. i cannot see something like this rule it's a custom it's not law it's not cast in stone. >> is part of the conference rolls through the conference operates not by congress. >> exactly exactly. >> what do we know about leader mccarthy's implants legislatively for the 118th, what is their legislative plan for the next congress? >> it sort of identify three things for they want to bring inflation down, although it's not clear what a republican held house with a democratic senate democratic white house can get done, lower crime. he has been -- and the board of course. a lot of this i think we'll be sending messages rather than passing legislation. and kevin mccarthy is trying to sort of keep it altogether. you got th

and one again in 2020, this will be a kickoff for kevin mccarthy and republicans if they are able to hang onto this. i'll show you this one too. dan kilby, democrat flint, michigan given a pretty good run for his money by paul young just in the area north and east of where slotkin's district is. you can point to tough news for republicans in pennsylvania but you can also look at this right now in michigan and thank you doing a pretty good job right now is getting your voters out. just a sample of what were seen here. >> we welcome kellyanne conway back to the panel. i just talked about our model and how it is shrinking as far as numbers and house seats. what are you hearing number one and number two is there any chance republicans to win the house tonight. >> i think there's a slim chance the hostel with the house tonight. will many house races to call. those elections become a little bit more national. there is a question that the issue that was bothering people most places in nearly every place. i will say this, i think the fox news polling that we got briefed on earlier is very ac

is kevin mccarthy going to be leader? could anybody else be leader if it wasn't kevin mccarthy? >> well, there's a lot of questions there that need to be addressed. number one, is he going to be the speaker. he won the internal party ballot yesterday as you indicated, with 188 votes, which leads him, leaves him a significant away from 218. let's put aside for a moment whether he will get to 218. he has about seven weeks to move a lot of votes, i mean we're talking about 20-something votes, 30 votes, to his side, and what is he going to do to get those votes? he will have to cut deals. he will have to convince the conservative holdouts that he is the guy who is going to run the in tuition guest. how does he do that. there is a whole host of ways. he says he is going to open up the process at 1:00 p.m. today which i guess is an hour ago. they started voting on party rules. all sorts of party rules that are designed to give members more power in the legislative process. but here's the risk for him, katy. if he caters too much to the right, he will lose, he risks losing votes from t