Gimenez Explains Vote for McCarthy as Speaker, Calls Ousting 'Insane'

With the vote for a new Speaker of the House imminent, Representative Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) appeared on Fox News's Evening Edit to explain his continued holding out for former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), calling it "insane" that eight individuals led by Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) were able to override the will of 210 other Republicans.

"Look, eight Republicans voted with 208 Democrats to oust the Speaker of the House, our Speaker that we supported by 96%. And so I think the way out of this is to go back to the future, I guess, and just reinstate Kevin McCarthy. Looking for a new leader makes no sense whatsoever," said Rep. Gimenez.

Host Elizabeth MacDonald asked if those eight would suddenly change their vote back in favor of McCarthy, which Rep. Gimenez doubted, saying "We voted for Kevin McCarthy, now this is like Bizarro World where eight Republicans tell us 210 that we have got to choose somebody else because eight of them along with 208 Democrats decided to oust Kevin McCarthy. Now where in the world does that make sense?"

Moreover, Gimenez said he would have preferred this situation be inverted: 210 Republicans convinced eight to change their votes. To that point, he questioned the loyalty of those eight, asking, "Who are the real Republicans here?"

MacDonald pointed out that because House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) is the nominee for Speaker and gaining ground among Republicans, she asked if Gimenez would vote for him "if all else fails."

Gimenez gave a firm no, saying people have accused him of voting for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) by default. In response, he said "The only way that Jeffries can become Speaker of the House is because of the chaos that was caused by Matt Gaetz. So no, I have been very consistent."

Finally, Gimenez concluded that the Speaker pro tempore should have greater power, given so much has happened in the two weeks since McCarthy's ouster that Congress needs addressing.

"The fact that everything stopped because of one individual is actually insane. The fact that it has not come to light for 250 years. Well, now we know about it because imagine in the future some Speaker gets injured or has an illness where they are incapacitated for a period of weeks or months. The business of the House stops. We need to rectify it right now as we get on the way of choosing our Speaker, and so I would rather get it right than get it fast, and that is what I want to do."