Republicans blindsided by Kevin McCarthy's public challenge to Mitch McConnell's leadership: report

Kevin McCarthy's challenge to Mitch McConnell blindsided the Senate minority leader, according to multiple senators.

The House Republican leader told Fox News host Laura Ingraham it would be "wrong" to cut a year-end spending deal with Democrats, and should instead wait until they take over the House majority next month, and he called out McConnell by name when asked, reported CNN.

“Why would you want to work on anything if we have the gavel inside Congress?” McCarthy told Ingraham.

McConnell has been working behind the scenes to reach an agreement on a spending package, but Republicans were caught off guard by McCarthy's public challenge to the Senate minority leader.

“It’s a House-Senate dynamic, and the conference in the House, obviously, a lot of times can be in a different place than the conference in the Senate,” said Senate minority whip John Thune (R-SD). “I think he’s reflecting what’s happening in the House, and he’s, as best I can (tell), trying to make sure he’s representative of the views of the House Republicans.”

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McCarthy has been courting his conference's right-wing flank to shore up support for his bid for House speaker, and they're urging him to take a hard line against funding the government until they're in charge and have more leverage to get what they want.

“They have different styles, different flavors of their conferences,” said one GOP lawmaker. “The dynamic is different. McCarthy is fighting for his political life.”

House Republicans are formally challenging a short-term spending measure to extend Friday's deadline until Dec. 23, and GOP sources believe they'll also work against the omnibus bill -- both of which McConnell is likely to support.

“You’ve got Mitch McConnell preparing to roll the House right now on additional trillions of dollars in spending,” said Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), the chairman of the far-right House Freedom Caucus. “Tell me how something changes here. I’m interested to hear, but right now, I don’t see anything changing.”

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