Ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy tells colleagues not to renominate him

Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has told colleagues not to re-nominate him for the position after several of his allies indicated dozens of Republicans would back him over either Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) or Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), The Post has learned.

McCarthy, who last week became the first House speaker in US history to be ousted by a floor vote, gave the instruction during a closed-door meeting with GOP members on Tuesday, Punchbowl News first reported.

The exhortation came one day after McCarthy allies including Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.), John Rutherford (R-Fla.) and John Duarte (R-Calif.) told House Republicans in a separate meeting that they intended to try to reinstall McCarthy as speaker, according to Politico.

House GOP aides told The Post that the former speaker’s allies were expected to move forward with their efforts anyway, though many expressed doubt that McCarthy could clear the 217-vote threshold to win back the gavel.

“I doubt he gets 60 to 80 votes,” one aide said, referring to Politico’s estimate of McCarthy’s support.

“A lot of the hard McCarthy people already committed to Jordan,” added another source.

Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.), a onetime McCarthy ally, posted on X, formerly Twitter, in response to the reports: “I’m not involved in any effort to include Rep. McCarthy on the ballot.”

Jordan currently has 47 House Republican publicly supporting his bid for the speakership, according to the Washington Examiner’s endorsement tracker.

Just 31 GOP lawmakers back Scalise, the tracker shows, including House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.).

Another GOP aide said the eight members who voted McCarthy out are now “mainly behind Jordan,” implying Scalise would face more difficulty shoring up votes from hard-right members.

Both Scalise and Jordan are due to appear Tuesday evening at a candidates’ forum that will determine the direction of their caucus for the rest of the congressional term.

Moderate Republicans and key committee leaders have kept their cards close to their chests on any eventual speakership votes, but some have conditioned their support on penalties for members who removed McCarthy.

“When you can’t say unequivocally that there should be accountability for eight that did this, I’m not interested in supporting you as a candidate,” Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) told the Wall Street Journal.

The New York Republican has previously expressed interest in expelling Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) from the conference for leading the motion to vacate against McCarthy — and stripping the other seven GOP lawmakers who backed Gaetz of their committee assignments.

McCarthy had previously expressed he was open to taking back the speakership if the conference was unified in its support.

Speaking to reporters in a Monday press conference, he made a forceful appeal that the lack of House Republican leadership was compromising conservative priorities such as border security and reducing federal spending — one of the reasons cited by hardliners for ousting McCarthy.

The next House speaker would also face the looming threat of another motion to vacate by disgruntled members, as Republicans hold just a four-seat majority.

“Is our conference just going to select somebody to try to throw them out in another 35 days if eight people don’t get 100% of what they want?” McCarthy told reporters.

“[If] you allow eight people to continue to do that with no consequences — no one’s going to be successful.”