Kevin McCarthy announces run for Speaker of the House

WASHINGTON — A battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives began taking clearer shape on Monday with a senior Republican announcing his bid, as expected, to replace retiring Speaker John Boehner, and another conservative declining to run.

Five-term Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the front-runner to become Boehner's successor, made it official in a letter to House Republican colleagues and separately criticized Democratic President Barack Obama's foreign policy.

The 50-year-old Californian has built bridges to the Tea Party faction of the party, but his bid was met with skepticism from some of the same conservatives who made Boehner's tenure turbulent, ultimately driving him from power.

Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie, a Tea Party favorite, in a telephone interview said some members were hesitating to endorse McCarthy because it would be "hard to go back home to your town halls and say, guess what, we did what you wanted, we replaced Boehner ... with his right-hand man."

Massie said a serious alternative to McCarthy would be Representative Daniel Webster, a former speaker of the Florida House of Representatives and the only Republican lawmaker so far, besides McCarthy, to announce for the top U.S. House job.

The conservative House rebels who worked to push Boehner out of office had not yet coalesced around any leadership candidates. Representative Tom Cole, a Boehner ally, said: "I just don’t think any of them have the support base to win."

Representative Jeb Hensarling, the conservative Republican chairman of the Financial Services Committee, has been considered by some as speaker material. But a Hensarling aide said Monday his boss would not vie for a leadership position.

Hensarling and another key Republican, Representative Paul Ryan, endorsed Representative Tom Price, a conservative Georgian, to replace McCarthy as the No. 2 House Republican, who makes day-to-day decisions about what goes on the House floor.

Price is a physician who chairs the House budget committee. Ryan is a former vice presidential nominee.

Boehner triggered the changing of the guard last week when he said he will leave Congress at the end of October after struggling with repeated rebellions by conservatives during a tumultuous five-year reign as the chamber's top Republican.

No date for a House leadership election has been set. House Republicans were planning to discuss the election process at a Tuesday evening meeting, Massie said.