Kevin McCarthy gears up to run for Speaker in 2022
04 November 2020
Surprising GOP gains in House races Tuesday and the addition of women to their caucus appears to have cleared the field of challengers to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, House leadership sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: That clears the path for him to run for Speaker of the House in 2022 if Republicans are successful in a push to retake the majority in the midterms.
Driving the news: Three Republican leadership sources said neither House GOP Conference chair Liz Cheney nor Republican whip Steve Scalise will mount a bid against McCarthy, and that all three will seek to hold their current minority roles.
Between the lines: Tuesday's election was a far more successful night for House Republicans than expected; earlier predictions estimated they could lose 10-15 seats. That has emboldened the conference and solidified McCarthy's standing.
- Ahead of the election, many Republicans believed a loss of seats could prompt the party to reexamine its leadership.
- A spokesperson for McCarthy declined to comment.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.