House Republicans to Elect New Majority House Leader
House Republicans will elect a new majority House leader on Thursday in wake of Eric Cantor's stunning loss in the Virginia Republican primary to little known Tea Party challenger Dave Brat last week.
Experts say that Cantor will most likely be replaced by Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-California, the current minority whip and No. 3 Republican in the House. However, McCarthy's ascension into Cantor's position will not create any significant change in course for the GOP, The New York Times predicted.
Also running for the coveted position is Raúl R. Labrador, R-Idaho, as the conservative alternative. Although he has little chance of defeating McCarthy, Labrador urged his colleagues to oppose the status quo at a candidate forum on Wednesday. He has, however, managed to win over some Tea Party groups who distrust McCarthy for favoring a path to legal status for some undocumented immigrants. Tea Partiers also point out that McCarthy represents a largely rural district that is 35 percent Latino in California, a blue state. In addition, the businesses in his agriculture-heavy district depend on immigrant labor to work the fertile farmland, while his community supports immigration reform and activists demonstrate at his office regularly.
According to CNN, McCarthy has a nuanced position on immigration that could lead to clashes with conservatives and pro-immigration reform advocates in the weeks and months ahead. However, pro-immigration organizations have already geared up to beef up the pressure on McCarthy to address reform.
United Farm Workers President Arturo Rodriguez said the district's Latino population will continue to grow and national pressure will keep building, San Jose Mercury News reported.
"McCarthy could find himself majority leader for a very short period of time and have no chance at the speakership," Rodriguez said. "If he's thinking long-term and thinking, 'I want to be the speaker at some point,' he'd better focus on representing his constituency."
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