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Washington • House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy withdrew from the speaker's race Thursday just as fellow Republicans were set to nominate him for the job, a move sending shock waves through the House and creating a possible opening for Utah's Rep. Jason Chaffetz.

"Hope so," Chaffetz said, emerging from the GOP's closed-door meeting hand in hand with his wife, Julie.

McCarthy, accompanied by his wife, Judy, said he would remove himself from the three-way race because the California lawmaker feared he would be unable to unify Republicans and garner a majority to win the top spot, a point Chaffetz had pitched as part of his candidacy. Thursday's scheduled GOP caucus vote was postponed after McCarthy's announcement.

A short while later, Speaker John Boehner announced he would postpone his scheduled Oct. 30 resignation. The Ohio Republican issued a statement saying he would stay on the job as long as it took to select a new speaker.

Chaffetz, who entered the race a few days ago, said he expected new competition in the speaker's race but would continue campaigning for speaker.

"I'm not under any illusion that I have 218 votes of support yet," Chaffetz said, referring to the number needed to clinch the spot. "But we're going to have a lot of deep soul-searching internally about who it is we want for speaker and what we want them to do."

Only hours before dropping out the race, McCarthy met with GOP House members to solicit their support. He was already the heavy favorite to win a majority of the 246 Republicans, and his news — which came minutes into the meeting — was unexpected.

"I was as shocked and surprised as anybody," said Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C. The race is now wide open, Sanford added.

"It's pure mayhem," he said. "Nobody has a clue."

Chaffetz was expected to finish third in the GOP caucus vote after McCarthy and Rep. Daniel Webster, a Florida Republican who on Wednesday nabbed the endorsement of the House Freedom Caucus, which has about 40 members.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa and one of the House's more conservative members, said he saw Webster with up to 70 votes in the race so far and that he was far ahead of Chaffetz.

"What I saw was Webster's numbers growing," King said. "I didn't see that Chaffetz's numbers were growing, and they may have shrunk, I don't know."

King said McCarthy's exit was an opening for Webster, not Chaffetz.

Asked whether Chaffetz now had a better shot, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., was abrupt.

"No," said the former chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee that Chaffetz now leads.

The House GOP had not immediately rescheduled another meeting to discuss the speaker's race, but the House is set to be in recess next week and return Oct. 19, 10 days before what had been a scheduled floor vote to select a replacement for Boehner. With that vote postponed indefinitely, no firm deadlines are in place.

Chaffetz said the break from Washington could help him burnish his support, but he acknowledged that already being in the race wouldn't position him better against any new challengers.

"Members want to get this right," Chaffetz said, "more than they want to get the person who got in early."

Rep. Mia Love, a Utah Republican who backs Chaffetz, was stunned by McCarthy's decision but said it would be a positive for the caucus to spend more time focused on what it wants to achieve before Republicans figure out whom to elevate as their leader.

"We have to get behind the 'what' before we get behind the 'who,' " Love said. "I'm just going to listen and try to figure out what we're going to do."

McCarthy, who will remain as majority leader, appeared before the group with his wife, Judy, to make his announcement. The weak sound system in the packed room left members befuddled as to what McCarthy was saying until word of mouth spread. The meeting, expected to last a few hours, broke up after 20 minutes.

Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate Republican from Pennsylvania, had supported McCarthy and said his withdrawal was a win for the right flank and a loss for the country.

"I said before John Boehner stepped down, those who wanted to take down John Boehner will try to frag the next guy," Dent said, using military slang that means to kill your superior officer. "Well, that's what we just saw happen. So the question is who will be the next guy to stand up?"