Pressure was building as McCarthy lost seventh, eighth and then historic ninth and 10th rounds of voting, surpassing the number it took the last time this happened, 100 years ago, in a prolonged fight to choose a speaker in a disputed election.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., talks with Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., after McCarthy failed to win the speakership in the seventh round of voting as the House meets for the third day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023.
One McCarthy critic, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, cast votes in two rounds for Donald Trump — a symbolic but pointed sign of the broad divisions over the Republican Party’s future. Then he went further, moving the day from protest toward the absurd in formally nominating the former president to be House speaker in the 11th vote.
“We’re having good discussions and I think everyone wants to find a solution,” McCarthy told reporters hours earlier. Jeffries of New York won the most votes on every ballot but also remained short of a majority. McCarthy ran second, gaining no ground. “When confidences are betrayed and leaks are directed, it’s even more difficult to trust,” he tweeted.Republican Party holdouts repeatedly put forward the name of Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, assuring the stalemate that increasingly carried undercurrents of race and politics would continue. They also put forward Republican Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, splitting the protest vote.
Ballots kept producing almost the same outcome, 20 conservative holdouts still refusing to support McCarthy and leaving him far short of the 218 typically needed to win the gavel.
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