“I am proud to endorse Harriet Hageman for Congress,” McCarthy said in a statement Thursday. “[Throughout] her career, Harriet has championed America’s natural resources and helped the people of Wyoming reject burdensome and onerous government overreach.”
McCarthy explained his endorsement in remarks to Fox’s Sean Hannity.
“Wyoming deserves to have a representative who will deliver the accountability against this Biden administration. Not a representative that they have today that works closer with Nancy Pelosi, going after Republicans instead of stopping these radical Democrats from what they’re doing to this country,” the California Republican said.
Hageman responded to the endorsement in a statement, saying, “I am very grateful for Leader McCarthy’s strong support, and I pledge that when I am Wyoming’s congresswoman, I will always stand up for our beautiful state and do the job I was sent there to do.”
The policy of the National Republican Congressional Committee is that they do not get involved in primaries with incumbents, but individual members of leadership are free to do as they please. Still, McCarthy has generally stayed out of these intraparty battles. His gamble is that the goodwill this endorsement will earn him with Trump and his backers will outweigh the risk that Cheney could win and thereby show that his support is not that valuable. That dangerous calculus is generally why leaders stay out of primaries.
Initially, McCarthy refused to say if he planned to endorse Hageman.
While McCarthy’s decision will be welcomed by members of the Freedom Caucus and could help him stave off a potential challenge for the speaker’s gavel should Republicans win back the majority, it won’t come without a cost. Many rank-and-file Republicans are uncomfortable with members of the party turning on each other and fear it could ultimately hurt their efforts to win elections in competitive districts.
“I think the party should try and continue to work with them,” said Texas Rep. Pete Sessions. “I think this is a fight between Donald Trump and (Kinzinger and Cheney), not the party.”
It will also make life even more difficult for the 10 Republican members who voted to impeach Trump. The former President has made a pledge to take each one of them out and has already recruited and endorsed candidates in several other races.
And while siding with Cheney’s opponent may help McCarthy to calm the concerns of the far-right Republicans in his caucus but it is by no means a guarantee they will all back him in a potential bid for speaker. During a recent episode of his podcast, GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, one of McCarthy’s biggest critics, gleefully agreed when former Fox host Lou Dobbs suggested that either Gaetz or Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan should run for speaker.
“I personally believe him to be a RINO,” Dobbs said of McCarthy while Gaetz nodded in agreement. “The party needs strength, it needs vision, it needs vibrancy, it needs new blood. It needs new leadership, it is just that simple.”
For her part, Cheney has continued on with her campaign undeterred, outraising Hageman by large sums and drawing support from traditional Republicans like her father the former Vice President Dick Cheney and former President George W. Bush.
The Cheney camp downplayed the significance of McCarthy’s support for Hageman.
“Wow, she must be really desperate,” Cheney spokesman Jeremy Adler said.
This story has been updated with additional comments from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Elise Stefanik.
CNN’s Brian Rokus and Rachel Janfaza contributed to this report.