"We are in one of our biggest battles ever for this nation and the direction about whether this century will be ours," the California Republican told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo." "We need a conference that's united and that's why we need a conference chair that's delivering the message day in and day out and uniting the nation to make sure we are on the right footing going forward."
McCarthy didn't respond straight to a question from Bartiromo whether enough votes are coming in a ballot later this week to officially remove Cheney, R-Wyo., from her party's No. 3 spot in the House, but pointed out that everyone in the party's leadership roles in the house "serves at the pleasure of the conference."
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"As you know, there's a lot at stake," said McCarthy, who also confirmed Sunday that he backs Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., to replace Cheney as chairperson. "Democrats are destroying the nation. We've watched the greatest expansion of government and the socialist liberal agenda. We watched them destroy our borders where hundreds of thousands are coming across not being tested for COVID. We are catching people on the terrorist watch list. You have the destruction of our energy. You've got the largest missed jobs report in more than two decades."
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To defeat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the "socialist agenda," Republicans "need to be united, and that starts with leadership," said McCarthy. "That's why we will have a vote and we want to be united and looking at moving forward. I think that's what will take place."
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He also rejected that the upcoming vote is over Cheney's anti-Trump stance, including her voting to discredit him and her denunciation over his continued insistence that the 2020 election was unfair.
"At conferences, you have the most critical jobs of the messenger going forward," said McCarthy. "Are we talking about what Democrats are doing on the border? Are we talking about all of the missed jobs on the report and building an economy where we are watching Joe Biden create inflation that we've never seen before, or a takeover of government, the raising of taxes, the damage of what will be done that we cannot come back from. That's why we need a conference that's united and that's why we need a conference chair that's delivering the message day in and day out and uniting the nation to make sure we are on the right footing going forward."
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