The news that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had dropped out of the race for speaker threw the House Republican conference into chaos and apparently brought some members to tears.
“The person next to me was crying,” Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL) said of the atmosphere in the room when McCarthy made the announcement, according to The Hill.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), a member of the House Freedom Caucus that did not support MCarthy’s bid, told The Hill that when McCarthy made the announcement, the majority leader’s supporters “all looked in shock to me.”
“They were lined up to give him a hug,” he told The Hill. “I saw tears in eyes.”
“It’s the strangest thing I’ve seen in a long time,” Huelskamp continued.
Rep. Peter King tells me that members are crying in cloakroom, unable to handle the unrest and confusion. “A banana republic,” he says.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) October 8, 2015
