Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador to challenge McCarthy for House majority leader

U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Idaho, a fiery conservative tea party favorite, said Friday he is running for the post of House majority leader to replace Eric Cantor, who is stepping down.

Labrador, a former immigration attorney, announced his long-shot candidacy for the No. 2 post in the U.S. House of Representatives in a statement. He said that he had been stunned by Cantor's primary election loss earlier this week, but that the message from that episode was clear: "Americans are looking for change in the status quo."

"Republicans need to address the growing challenges of immobility amongst the poor, insecurity in the middle class and stop protecting the special interests at the top," said the statement from Labrador, 46, who was born in Puerto Rico but represents an Idaho district in Congress.

Labrador was elected in the 2010 tea party wave that gave the GOP control of the House. His candidacy seems likely to be a symbolic waving of the flag for the chamber’s restive conservatives because Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., appears to have all but nailed down the job.

One GOP lawmaker who is close to Labrador said the Idaho Republican “can’t stand” McCarthy, and was upset that the majority whip could earn a promotion by acclimation. But the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Labrador has no illusions about a victory next Thursday.

“Raul isn’t running to win. Raul is running to prove a point,” the member said, according to the National Journal, a public policy journal based in Washington, D.C.

Labrador's allies had said earlier this week that he was being encouraged to run in the June 19 election by other members of Congress. Labrador, who is Hispanic and bilingual, would add diversity to the all-white leadership team.

Labrador was among a dozen Republicans who declined to vote for House Speaker John Boehner in 2013. He abandoned bipartisan House talks on an immigration overhaul last year, and has said that Boehner should lose his gavel if he pursues immigration reform this year.

His outspoken criticism of the current Republican leadership has occasionally rubbed some Republicans the wrong way, but he is one of the most popular tea-party-allied members of the GOP right.

Al Jazeera and wire services