Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said Tuesday that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) looming retirement is a broader representation of embattled GOP lawmakers who could depart under the Trump administration and put the Republican majority at risk.
“She’s almost like the canary in the coal mine,” McCarthy said during a Tuesday interview on Fox News’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“And this is something inside Congress, they’d better wake up, because they are going to get a lot of people retiring, and they’ve got to focus,” he added.
McCarthy’s words come in tandem with 22 House Republicans who have either made the decision to retire early or forgo a reelection bid next year.
The number is above average, as noted by David Wasserman, a senior editor and elections analyst, according to Fox News. Dwindling numbers threaten the party’s razor-thin majority in the lower chamber and could impact Republicans’ ability to move future legislation past the finish line.
Greene announced her decision to leave in January following weeks of turmoil with President Trump and the president pulling his endorsement. Even with the Georgia Republican’s retirement, the GOP’s 219-213 majority will stand.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can only afford to lose two Republican votes on any legislation, assuming that all members are present and Democrats are unified in opposition.
Last week, Johnson told Fox News Digital, “There’s a lot of initiatives left on the table, things for us to do and a short amount of time to do it in. But we’re really bullish about the ideas that we’re bringing forward over the next few weeks and in the coming months about reducing the cost of living.”
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said Greene’s exit could be used as a propellent for legislative initiatives.
“I do think that in the longer run, this is going to strengthen his hand,” Bacon said. “You know, Marjorie Taylor Greene has been one of the biggest nemeses of Speaker Johnson, and we have a chance to be a stronger team because we’ll be less divided in the long run.”