South Dakota Republican fumes at 'chaos agents' in his caucus trying to tank McCarthy

On Monday, CNN reported that a Republican lawmaker is raging against "chaos agents" within the House GOP who are set on tanking GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) in his bid for Speaker of the House.

Republicans, who won an unexpectedly narrow majority in the House after a contentious midterm election last year, are set to vote on the Speakership tomorrow.

"Rep. Dusty Johnson, a South Dakota Republican, said that he found it 'incredible' that the same members pushing for a more 'open and transparent' GOP conference are getting behind a 'shadow candidate' they plan to 'ambush' Republicans with at the start of the new Congress," reported Manu Raju, Melanie Zanona, and Lauren Fox.

"'I think members are growing increasingly frustrated with the intransigence of some of the holdouts," said Johnson, who described the rebel Republicans as "chaos agents who are trying to cause trouble."

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In a subsequent CNN interview with Erica Hill, Johnson vowed that McCarthy would be elected even if it takes "30 ballots".

"Other dark-horse candidates could emerge if McCarthy drops out, according to Republican lawmakers," said the report. "Among the names that have been floated: North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, a McCarthy ally who is poised to chair a top committee next year; Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a co-founder of the far-right House Freedom Caucus; and Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole, a veteran lawmaker who would be seen as more of a temporary caretaker for the job.

None of those lawmakers, however, have expressed any interest in the job, and they would almost certainly run into the same dilemma as McCarthy: Preventing more than four Republicans from defecting in a bid to win the speaker’s gavel."

Already, five far-right Republicans have vowed to vote as a "Never Kevin" bloc, which would already be more votes than McCarthy can afford to lose. Meanwhile, at least nine other Republicans are undecided.