Pete Sessions Drops Bid For Majority Leader, Clearing The Way For McCarthy

Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, attends the House Rules Committee meeting regarding floor debate on legislation that would repeal the health care overhaul bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. (AP ... Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Texas, attends the House Rules Committee meeting regarding floor debate on legislation that would repeal the health care overhaul bill on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) MORE LESS

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) has cleared the field to succeed Eric Cantor as majority leader in the June 19 election.

His chief rival, House Rules Committee Chair Pete Sessions (R-TX), dropped his bid on Thursday night, paving the way for the whip to ascend to the No. 2 spot.

Sessions fretted “unnecessary and painful division” within the House GOP if he were to run and called for Republican unity.

“After thoughtful consideration and discussion with my colleagues, I have made the decision to not continue my run for House Majority Leader,” he said in a statement. “Today, it became obvious to me that the measures necessary to run a successful campaign would have created unnecessary and painful division within our party. At this critical time, we must remain unified as a Republican Conference. As always, I stand ready and willing to work with our team to advance the conservative agenda that the American people demand and deserve.”

There’s still time for an upstart conservative challenger to make some noise. But McCarthy, who was already seen as the clear favorite, is now in a commanding position.

26
Show Comments

Notable Replies

  1. Well, I guess the knife marks in Boehner’s back will be a lot higher now…

    BTW Is it me, or does it look like all McCarthy’s seeing in that picture is a continuous line of ones and zeros? :slight_smile:

  2. I thought for sure it was going to be Virginia Foxx.

  3. The GOP is scared shitless the Teahaddist crowd will crash the mid terms. McCarthy is a big ag, big oil sump pump.

  4. McCarthy? Talk about a dummy.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

20 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for lestatdelc Avatar for mmurdoch Avatar for brooklyndweller Avatar for Diogenes67 Avatar for OzoneTom Avatar for wellstone Avatar for eggrollian Avatar for bluestatedon Avatar for sergeant2 Avatar for Robman2 Avatar for doitlive Avatar for tallyjohnson Avatar for topcat Avatar for arrendis Avatar for midnight_rambler Avatar for arc_of_the_universe Avatar for fitley Avatar for dectra Avatar for bigdaddydrj Avatar for smokinthegotp Avatar for ewparris Avatar for darrtown Avatar for benthere

Continue Discussion