WASHINGTON – The U.S. House slogged through more votes for speaker Thursday, with Republicans unable to reach consensus about whether Kevin McCarthy should lead them during the 118th Congress, or if another lawmaker should win the gavel.
Twenty-one Republicans voted against McCarthy during the third day, signaling that ongoing closed-door negotiations and talks on the House floor from McCarthy allies haven’t succeeded yet. The level of opposition was unchanged from Wednesday.
“Like I said from the beginning, we want to change things fundamentally here so this place works for the American people. And we’re not going to stop going until we get that one way or the other,” Pennsylvania’s Scott Perry said during a brief interview as voting dragged on inside the chamber. “Either we have the tools to do it, or we have the personnel to do it. It’s going to be one, or the other.”
McCarthy’s backing through two rounds of ballots continued to hold at 201 votes, with 20 members of his conference voting for other candidates – including Florida’s Byron Donalds, Oklahoma’s Kevin Hern and former President Donald Trump – and one member voting present.
House GOP lawmakers voting for candidates other than McCarthy were: Andy Biggs of Arizona, Bishop of North Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Michael Cloud of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Eli Crane of Arizona, Donalds of Florida, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Bob Good of Virginia, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Harris of Maryland, Anna Luna of Florida, Mary Miller of Illinois, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Andrew Ogles of Tennessee, Perry of Pennsylvania, Rosendale of Montana, Chip Roy of Texas and Keith Self of Texas.
Indiana’s Victoria Spartz continued voting present.
Boebert and Brecheen switched from backing Donalds to backing Oklahoma’s Hern, who was first elected to the U.S. House in 2018, though Hern has been voting for McCarthy.
Boebert said during a brief interview that she believes Hern “is the consensus candidate that everyone needs to rally behind and never move away from.”
Nebraska’s Don Bacon reiterated Thursday that a stronghold of the Republican conference will remain behind McCarthy.
“We’re in for the long haul,” he said.
Democrats continued to uniformly back New York’s Hakeem Jeffries, who holds the most votes for speaker with 212.
The House cannot move on from speaker debate unless a candidate gets at least 218 votes, or the chamber adjourns, as it did on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Until Republicans unite around McCarthy, or a consensus candidate emerges, the 434 current House members cannot be sworn in and committees cannot form, leaving the chamber stuck.
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