House speaker candidate Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) said Wednesday that he still had the support of the Freedom Caucus, some of the most conservative Republicans in the chamber, despite the group talking to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
The caucus had previously endorsed Webster for House speaker, support that helped doom the bid of House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), who dropped out of the race for the spot.
House speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has said that he will resign from the job at the end of October.
On Tuesday, Ryan made a series of demands for him to run as speaker, including the endorsement of the Freedom Caucus, which met with him Wednesday afternoon.
Webster, during an interview on Fox News, said he was confident he still had the group’s votes.
“I don’t see them going anywhere,” Webster told host Neil Cavuto. “They’ve already voted to endorse me.”
Cavuto asked Webster if the caucus had reiterated its support.
“Individually, they have,” Webster said. “And so collectively, I’ve not met as a total group but I’ve met individually and they’ve said they’re going to stick with me.”
“So all 40 or largely most of the 40 will?” Cavuto asked.
“I think they will,” Webster said.
“Well, that would deny him the 218 votes to become speaker. It would make it very problematic for you. So, with John Boehner leaving, we don’t have a speaker, right?” Cavuto asked.
“Well, we’re going to have an election. That’s been set,” Webster said. “Of course, we had an election set before at that didn’t happen. But I think this time it will have to happen.”
Watch Webster’s comment:
