House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said on Fox News that President Joe Biden congratulated him when they spoke on the phone Wednesday.
“It was short. He just wanted to call me, congratulate from that point, talk about where we can work together. Look, I said, I will work with anybody that wants to put American first and move us in the right direction,” McCarthy said Thursday night.
“He congratulated me, so for anyone who thinks we didn’t win the majority, Joe at least believes we did as well,” he said.
CNN has not projected if the House will remain under Democrat control or flip to the Republicans.
The White House confirmed Biden’s call with McCarthy on Wednesday but offered no details about the conversation.
CNN has reached out to the White House to ask about McCarthy’s description of the call.
McCarthy added that he used the conversation with Biden to lay out priorities for a Republican House majority, including energy independence and securing the border.
“I laid this all out to the president and told him, ‘I will work with you if you are willing to work on these items,’” he said.
McCarthy also dismissed speculation that he lacks enough support from the right wing of his caucus to become speaker.
“I’m not concerned,” McCarthy said. “People can have input, we want to have a very open input process. We are going to have a smaller majority, so we’re going to find that we work together.”
On that possibility of a small majority, McCarthy quipped, “They don’t give gavels out by small, medium and large, they just give you the gavel. We’re going to be able to govern.”
He argued that even if their numbers are smaller than projected, they met their goal.
“What was our mission? To win the majority, to stop Biden’s agenda, and fire Nancy Pelosi. All of that is accomplished.”
McCarthy’s assessment may be a bit premature. According to CNN’s projections, Republicans appear to be slowly inching toward the 218 seats that would deliver them a House majority, but many races are still too early to call.
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