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Kevin McCarthy's epic struggle to become House Speaker goes into third day
California Republican representative Kevin McCarthy is about to enter the third day of voting and negotiations as he continues his battle to succeed Democrat Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.
He needs 218 votes, a majority of the House, to clinch the post and although his party holds the majority since their victory in last year’s midterm elections, McCarthy is being obstructed by up to 20 right-wing Republicans who either don’t want him as speaker or want to wring enough concessions out of him that they have huge power as rank and file lawmakers.
McCarthy has now failed to get a majority or even get closer to it in a total so far of six rounds of voting, on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Nothing like this has happened in the House for a century – previous speakers got their ducks in a row, more or less, to ensure they were elected in the first round of voting.
The obstruction to McCarthy is being led by far-right GOP representatives, from the group calling themselves the Freedom Caucus. Even though they are ostensibly ultra fans of Donald Trump, staunch “Maga Republicans” (Trump’s Make America Great Again presidential campaign slogan that now stands for his base of most loyal supporters), they are shunning the former president’s call for the House GOPers to support McCarthy for speaker.
Without a speaker, no other House business can commence, including swearing in its own members.
Voting is expected to continue today, McCarthy is negotiating with his own rebels and so far has refused to back down and allow someone else from his side, such as right-winger Steve Scalise, to take his place as frontrunner for the speakership.
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Can McCarthy do it? He is expected to huddle with fellow-Republicans on Capitol Hill this morning in an effort to win enough support to get a majority of votes to become speaker.
As of daybreak today, McCarthy has not given up.
McCarthy's speakership bid is seeing a glimmer of hope after he and some of his critics had what both sides are describing as productive conversation.
He caved to most of his opponents' demands, but its unclear if it's enough to land him the speakership. https://t.co/xqQSi04oam
But as Politico outlines, at the rate his concession-making is going, rank-and-file far right House rebels will have crushing power over him if he becomes speaker.
McCarthy is currently still back by Donald Trump and, now, another famous face, Elon Musk.
Lauren Gambino
“Well, it’s Groundhog Day – again,” said Congresswoman Kat Cammack of Florida, nominating Republican leader Kevin McCarthy for speaker of the House on the sixth ballot.
But as he had five times before, McCarthy suffered yet another humiliating defeat at the hands of 20 hard-right Republican holdouts determined to block his rise.
McCarthy vowed to forge ahead. But it was clear Republicans were growing weary of the once-in-a-century spectacle that has already tainted the opening days of their new House majority. Despite three rousing speeches endorsing his candidacy on Wednesday, his prospects seemed dimmer than ever.
Congresswoman Victoria Spartz, a Republican from Indiana, changed her vote to “present” after supporting McCarthy on the first three rounds of ballots. She implored her party to “stop wasting everyone’s time” with endless rounds of balloting that were not changing any minds.
“Let cooler, more rational heads prevail,” pleaded Congressman Warren Davidson, a Republican from Ohio and a member of the far-right Freedom Caucus, in a speech urging support for McCarthy.
Moments later, Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, another member of the Freedom Caucus and a conservative rabble-rouser from Colorado, called on her “favorite president” – Donald Trump – to level with McCarthy. Trump, she said, should tell the Republican leader: “Sir, you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw.”
But McCarthy remained hopeful that a third day of balloting would yield a different result.
Read more of this report here.
Despite fevered negotiations on Capitol Hill, Kevin McCarthy failed to increase the number of votes he garnered from his own side yesterday and is far short of the majority he needs to clinch the speakership.
We’re in uncharted territory in modern times in Washington and it’s not yet clear how today will go for the Republicans, who are narrowly in control of the House but can’t agree on a speaker.
If McCarthy doesn’t get a majority or drop out today and the mess goes into a fourth day tomorrow it will be an epic symbol of failure as the House convenes without a speaker on January 6, the second anniversary of the Capitol attack by extremist and violent supporters of Donald Trump, who tried in vain to do the-then president’s bidding and stop the official certification by Congress of Joe Biden’s presidential victory in the 2020 election.
Kevin McCarthy's epic struggle to become House Speaker goes into third day
California Republican representative Kevin McCarthy is about to enter the third day of voting and negotiations as he continues his battle to succeed Democrat Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House.
He needs 218 votes, a majority of the House, to clinch the post and although his party holds the majority since their victory in last year’s midterm elections, McCarthy is being obstructed by up to 20 right-wing Republicans who either don’t want him as speaker or want to wring enough concessions out of him that they have huge power as rank and file lawmakers.
McCarthy has now failed to get a majority or even get closer to it in a total so far of six rounds of voting, on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Nothing like this has happened in the House for a century – previous speakers got their ducks in a row, more or less, to ensure they were elected in the first round of voting.
The obstruction to McCarthy is being led by far-right GOP representatives, from the group calling themselves the Freedom Caucus. Even though they are ostensibly ultra fans of Donald Trump, staunch “Maga Republicans” (Trump’s Make America Great Again presidential campaign slogan that now stands for his base of most loyal supporters), they are shunning the former president’s call for the House GOPers to support McCarthy for speaker.
Without a speaker, no other House business can commence, including swearing in its own members.
Voting is expected to continue today, McCarthy is negotiating with his own rebels and so far has refused to back down and allow someone else from his side, such as right-winger Steve Scalise, to take his place as frontrunner for the speakership.
Speakerless House enters third day of Republican chaos
Good morning, US politics live blog readers, as we set out on another day of high drama in Washington. Congressional Republicans narrowly won control of the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections but have failed to agree amongst themselves who to elect as Speaker of the House, after two days of voting rounds where Kevin McCarthy did not get the necessary majority.
Stick with us as we cover today’s developments as they happen. Here is what’s on the political agenda:
The House will go back into session at 12pm ET today and the battle to become Speaker will resume. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy has now been through six rounds of voting since Tuesday afternoon and failed to win a majority despite the party having control of the chamber. This is unprecedented in at least a century of US politics.
Kevin McCarthy is expected once again to hold frantic meetings this morning prior to the House session. The California Republican is going through an epic political trauma that is not only bad for him but makes the Republicans look useless as civil war rages in the party.
No other House business can begin until the chamber has a speaker. That means lawmakers have not been sworn in for the 118th Congress that began on January 3, including all the brand new representatives elected for the first time in the midterms.
McCarthy is still negotiating, hoping to offer enough concessions to the 19 or 20 rightwing rebels on his own side who refuse to vote for him. With the narrow GOP majority he can only afford to lose four GOP votes if the Democrats all continue turning up and voting for their guy, House minority leader and New York congressman Hakeem Jeffries, who took over the position from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Elsewhere, at 11.15am ET, Joe Biden, accompanied by his vice-president Kamala Harris, is due to make remarks on the situation at the US-Mexico border, where confusion and tension about amid the upholding of the public health measure Title 42 that continues to act as a harsh anti-immigration tool and is causing misery for migrants on both sides of the border. Notably, instead of billing the remarks as focusing on humanitarian issues and improving the US’s dysfunctional immigration legal system, the White House has billed the remarks as being about “border security and enforcement.”
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