Tensions among congressional Republicans on Tuesday could be felt in all corners of the Capitol after a small group of conservative hardliners ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House speaker.
Sen. Steve Daines of Montana slammed Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana for being one of the eight House Republicans who voted with all the chamber’s Democrats to strip the gavel from Mr. McCarthy.
Mr. Rosendale is mulling a run against Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in 2024.
But he is not supported by the NRSC and Senate GOP leaders, and Mr. Daines is in charge of getting Senate Republicans elected as chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
“I didn’t realize that Matt Rosendale and Nancy Pelosi attend the same prayer group,” Mr. Daines told The Washington Times.
His remarks were in reference to a recently surfaced video of Mr. Rosendale privately telling donors he was “praying” the 2022 midterms would give House Republicans a narrow majority to give more leverage to the party’s right flank.
House Republicans have just a five-seat majority, which exacerbated Mr. McCarthy’s difficulty uniting the conference and ultimately contributed to his eviction Tuesday.
Mr. Rosendale’s office did not respond to a request for comment about the criticism.
The NRSC is backing Tim Sheehy in the Republican primary for a seat that is rated as a toss up and could determine Senate control.
In a historic vote, the House was paralyzed with chaos Tuesday after passing a motion for the first time in U.S. history to remove a sitting House speaker.
Mr. Rosendale was among eight conservatives to back the measure, which was led by Rep. Matt Gaetz, Florida Republican, and supported by all Democrats.
Speaking to reporters about why he will not seek to regain the speaker’s gavel, Mr. McCarthy also whacked Mr. Rosendale for secretly hoping House Republicans would win the chamber only narrowly.
“When you have members like that that are part of your team, you’ve got a tough team,” Mr. McCarthy said.
