After Three Rounds, House Fails to Elect New Speaker as McCarthy Falls Short

The House adjourned today following a chaotic afternoon of multiple voting rounds in which Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy failed to secure the votes needed to take the position of Speaker of the House. The embarrassing three rounds of failure for McCarthy caps off what has been a turbulent time for GOP leadership following a weak midterm election performance in November.

The first round hilariously ended with Democrat Hakeem Jeffries coming in with more votes than McCarthy thanks to Democrats voting in lockstep together. Despite the higher vote total, Jeffries doesn’t have a majority, and Republicans, even though some dislike McCarthy, aren’t going to put a Democrat back in charge after kicking out Nancy Pelosi:

FINAL FIRST ROUND SPEAKER VOTE TALLY:
Total: 434 VOTES

Jeffries: 212 Votes
McCarthy: 203 votes
Biggs: 10 votes
Jordan: 6 votes
Banks: 1 vote
Zeldin: 1 vote
Donalds: 1 vote

— Nathaniel Reed (@ReedReports) January 3, 2023

After some more wrangling, the second round ended similarly with the same numbers for Jeffries and McCarthy but a new coalition around Rep. Jim Jordan::

Results of round 2 (218 votes needed to be elected Speaker):
Jeffries (D) 212
McCarthy (R) 203
Jordan (R) 19

Interesting that a few abstained during initial roll call & voted at the end. Wondering if more Rs will do that (vote at end) in Round 3 so they know how others voted?

— Brian Chovanec (@Brian_Chovanec) January 3, 2023

By the third round, McCarthy lost another vote to Jordan:

Round Three Vote
Jeffries (D) – 212
McCarthy (R) – 202
Jordan (R) – 20

What will happen on Wednesday? That’s anyone’s guess. McCarthy has vowed to press on and stay in the fight according to CNN:

McCarthy faces a small but determined contingent of hardline conservatives who are intent on denying him the votes to secure the gavel. The top House Republican has defiantly vowed to stay in the race as he continues his increasingly imperiled bid for speaker. But the longer the fight drags on, the more uncertainty there is over whether he can win. The last time an election for speaker went to multiple ballots was in 1923.

The contentious, drawn out fight threatens to deepen divides among House Republicans with McCarthy’s political career on the line. And the deal-making McCarthy has engaged in to try to win over critics may mean he has a weaker hand to play in his position of authority if he does become speaker.

For now, McCarthy remains adamant he will not give up, with people close to him summing up his mentality as this: “We’re going to war,” a senior GOP source tells CNN. “Never backing down.”

Call it the MAGA rebellion against the status quo of what Kevin McCarthy represents. Truthfully, there are better options for the position but few will be able to bridge the divide cleanly. If McCarthy can’t whip some more votes among Republicans, is it possible a few Democrats might peel away from Jeffries and back McCarthy just to end the drama? Not likely as a nasty floor fight among Republicans will inevitably wind up weakening whichever one does eventually take the gavel.

What’s unclear is whether McCarthy can offer the 20 defectors anything short of a decision to step aside. Are they holding out for specific demands or simply holding out because they’ll never support McCarthy no matter what happens?

BREAKING: Rep. @LaurenBoebert says she will NOT be voting for Kevin McCarthy for Speaker pic.twitter.com/U8RJrOWYvk

— Joel Valdez (@realJoelValdez) January 3, 2023

We’ll know soon on Wednesday when the House is brought back into session and the charade will start again. How many more voting rounds will it take for McCarthy to step aside? Stand by, another round or two might bring some true chaos.