Rep. Jason Chaffetz has officially launched his dark-horse campaign for House speaker, arguing he’s a better choice to unite the fractious Republican conference and that Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy lacks the communication skills and credibility with conservatives needed to succeed in the top leadership job.

In a lengthy interview with POLITICO in his Capitol Hill office this weekend, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee predicted that opposition from conservatives will block McCarthy from securing the 218 votes he needs to be elected on the House floor later this month – and so Chaffetz is pitching himself as an alternative.


“There are very few people who can win the support of our hardcore conservatives and yet be palatable to our more moderate members,” he said. “The question is who can help unite the party and bridge the divide and I hope they see me as the person that will give everyone a fair shake.”

McCarthy has broad support within the House Republican Conference and remains the overwhelming favorite to succeed outgoing Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). And it’s unclear how much support Chaffetz can actually garner. Chaffetz, who remarked that he’s “comfortable with losing,” would not say whether he has any pledged supporters.

But until now, McCarthy faced only token opposition in Florida Rep. Daniel Webster; Chaffetz, by contrast, is the head of a major committee and a respected figure among the rank-and-file. At the very least, the Utah Republican’s last-minute entry complicates McCarthy’s path and highlights the uneasiness with which the centrist Californian is viewed among the most conservative members of the GOP conference.

Chaffetz argued that Republicans would be getting more of the same with McCarthy — inviting the same discord that’s racked the conference during Boehner’s five years in the job.

“We owe Kevin McCarthy a lot; he is a major reason we enjoy the majority, with the strongest numbers we’ve had since the 1920s,” Chaffetz said. “But there are too many members who won’t promote (an) existing (member of) leadership just because there’s a vacancy.”

Chaffetz said McCarthy is likely to secure the backing of a majority of Republicans during a secret-ballot conference vote on Thursday. But the floor vote for speaker, expected later in the month, is a different matter, Chaffetz said. Members must openly declare their position, and Chaffetz is convinced that McCarthy won't receive enough backing to become speaker.

“I think the math is the biggest challenge for Kevin McCarthy,” Chaffetz said.

Chaffetz went on to question McCarthy’s talent as a communicator, on the heels of the majority leader’s statement last week that the Benghazi Committee investigation of Hillary Clinton has damaged the Democratic frontrunner's campaign. Democrats said the comments exposed the true motives of Republicans in creating the committee.

McCarthy later walked back his remarks after a firestorm of criticism, but Chaffetz was not assuaged.

With the first votes in the presidential race just months away, he said, “We have to have someone who can communicate the conservative message to America, and that deeply undercut it.”

Chaffetz, a frequent guest on cable TV news, touted himself as a superior public speaker.

“We need a speaker who speaks,” Chaffetz added. “We lose the communication war time and time again, and I think the conference wants a proactive communicator.”

Chaffetz’s age and experience level could hinder him. He is two years younger and has been in Congress for less time than McCarthy, who himself is relatively green compared with past speakers.

Chaffetz said he’d approach the speakership as more of a facilitator, allowing the majority of the GOP conference to work its will.

“I’m not here to be a dictator but to empower members to do what they see fit. I want the process to work its way through the body,” he said.

That means more debate, more amendments, and more power delegated to the committees, he said, rather than having the speaker act as final decision-maker on big policy issues.

“I’m not scared of diversity,” he said. “We have to have debates and win the argument, and if there are amendments that need to be brought up so we find out where the party is, so be it.”

Asked if, as speaker, he would have allowed a vote on a "clean" short-term funding bill that did not include a provision to defund Planned Parenthood, Chaffetz said he would have looked to the committees for guidance. The same goes with raising the debt ceiling, which must happen by early November in order to avoid a first-ever government default.

“The only way you can raise the debt ceiling is to change the trajectory of spending — that’s my personal preference," he said. "But I want the Ways and Means Committee to offer up a solution.”

Chaffetz called for congressional Republicans to send more conservative bills to the president’s desk, arguing that current leadership has "missed opportunities." He said he's "tired of doing what the Senate wants to do," but did not address the fact that it takes Democratic votes to pass legislation in that chamber.

Chaffetz also said he would allow lawmakers to vote against the party without fear of punishment. Pressed about his decision earlier this year to strip Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) of his subcommittee chairmanship after he voted against a critical procedural vote for Republicans, Chaffetz said he learned his lesson.

“It was an important reminder and lesson that using retribution or a heavy hand is not the way we’re going to build our strength,” said Chaffetz, who later reinstated Meadows. “We have to win the argument and persuade people."

Chaffetz said he felt compelled to jump in because the people he considers the best candidates for speaker — Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Benghazi Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) — won’t run.

“I didn’t plan on running for speaker, but I don’t see anyone else stepping up,” he said. “I know I’m the underdog.”

