(The Center Square) – California Republican Kevin McCarthy failed Tuesday to get enough support in the first three votes as his bid for Speaker of the House struggles to cross the finish line.
The U.S. House adjourned with no debate after the third vote and is scheduled to reconvene at noon Wednesday. Until a new speaker is elected, the House cannot conduct other business.
McCarthy – or whoever wins the speakership – needs 218 votes to secure a majority. The California Republican received 203 votes twice, then 202 in the final round of voting Tuesday.
After November’s elections, Republicans hold 222 in the House.
The failed vote leaves the race for speaker up for grabs. U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is the main Republican opponent to McCarthy.
Between the second and this votes, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., flipped his support from McCarthy, saying he didn’t have the support needed to become speaker.
“The reality is Rep. Kevin McCarthy doesn’t have the votes,” Donalds tweeted. “I committed my support to him publicly and for two votes on the House Floor. 218 is the number, and currently, no one is there. Our conference needs to recess and huddle and find someone or work out the next steps.”
Related Story: McCarthy Angrily Demands GOP Votes For Speaker In Stormy Meeting: ‘I’ve Earned This Job!’; Two Votes Have Failed
Failure in this bid is not new to McCarthy, who withdrew his 2015 bid for the leadership position, which eventually went to Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. McCarthy reportedly was aggressively lobbying his Republican colleagues leading up to the vote and appealed to them in a closed-door meeting Tuesday morning that grew heated.
Conservative Republicans hesitated to throw their support behind the California Republican, who many saw as too liberal, but no challenger arose with enough clout to get enough votes.
McCarthy had reportedly already moved into the office of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., ahead of the votes.
“In his 14 years in Republican leadership, McCarthy has repeatedly failed to demonstrate any desire to meaningfully change the status quo in Washington,” U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn., said. “Despite our deep reservations we have continued to work in earnest to find a path forward with McCarthy, knowing that this crucial moment would come.”
Perry said he and other conservative members in the House laid out conditions for McCarthy but that he “balked” when faced with them. Those conditions included a promise to vote on a balanced budget, the “Texas Border Plan,” term limits for members of Congress, and the Fair Tax Act, which would create a national sales tax on certain services and property to replace the current income tax, payroll taxes, and estate and gift taxes.
“We requested transparent, accountable votes on individual earmarks that would require two-thirds support to pass, and to ensure that all amendments to cut spending would be allowed floor consideration,” Perry said. “He dismissed it.”
The public questioning of McCarthy undermined his effort and showed lawmakers were not afraid to voice their opposition.
Some did throw their hat in the ring. The biggest Republican challenger in the first vote was Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who got a handful of votes in the first round but none in the second.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the successor of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., received the Democratic vote but not enough votes to win the speaker’s spot.
“Even after the McCarthy Machine’s attempts to whip votes and smear my name for several weeks, McCarthy is still well short of the 218 threshold,” Biggs said late Monday. “Our party still requires new leadership and I will continue to oppose McCarthy for House Speaker.”
The Republicans are already making themselves laughing stocks, that’s not why we sent them to Washington! They are playing right into the Democrats hands especially since the hold-outs really have no willing alternative nor a ready plan in dealing with legislation!
If the holdouts are holding out for worthy government cleaning programs they should hold out forever. If they are just organized versions of power weilding Joe Manchins trying to barter for peronal power or enrichment, then they are the enemy and the same esatblishment face of what they accuse McCarthy of being himself. Let;s see just what they are trying to accomplish. If it edifies and benfits THE PEOPLE or just edifies and enriches the PARTY or the person. Failure to protect THE PEOPLE , and punish the guilty this time is not an option.
Don’t forget Mr. Turtle Man. Becoming just another worthless, foolish RINO.
IF they can’t come together on THIS.. HOW DO THEY EXPECT US to see them coming together, to CLEAN the swamp. To do OUR BIDDING.. TO protect OUR nation?
Since when did shutting down the House’s ability to pass more financial debilitating Representative enriching legislations become a bad thing? Better to save a little now in delays, than pay a lot later with establishment business as usual returning back to full bloom. The pain of disciplining McCarthy now if he does get elected may save THE PEOPLE more pain later. Failure is no longer an option, neither is electing the wrong speaker based on how many other fellow Reps he empowered whose campaign funds he enriched, rather than doing the right thing to enrich and empower THE PEOPLE. To do so will just give us another Nancy Pelosi without the wrinkles, caked on makeup, forked tongue and expensive designer skirts. Had McCarthy earned this job it would be THE PEOPLE he protected, backing him 100%, pressuring their reps to elevate him and the job would have already been done. Smells more like deal cutting establishment entitlement than to me. In true democracies Reps do not pay his salary, WE DO and he should have done more to protect us. His dirty hands are all over those trillion dollar bills Pelosi, McConnell and Schumer passed. Give me a guy like Steve Scalise who knows how to take a bullet for the team and survive to SERVE another day. God does not save such men to just later remain idle and unused.
Steve Scalise endorsed McCarthy. So did Jim Jordan and Donald Trump.
The guy who wants it most, most offten is the least worthy to get it. The fact that Jordon and Scalise don’t pathologically want it, probably makes them more qualified. Trump doesn;t want it either, but could really do the Democrats some real damage and payback if he got it. Most any Democrat who wanted it less than Nancy Pelosi would have done a better job. Joe would do a better Job than Kevin,,,Joe McCarthy the commie killer that is.
SO. We’ve seen many bad calls in endorsements by Trump already..
Indeed,,,,Herschel Walker, Dr. Oz,,,,Kevin McCarthy? ALl McCarthy has to do to win my support is agree that each important bill will stand on its own and not exceed the number of words in our original Constitution with no attachments of pet pork projects, Governing by deal cutting just gets THE PEOPLE sold down the river with their throats the deals that get cut.
Exactly. AND NOTE its only REPUBLICANS that ever have to “deal” with dems.. THEY never ever seem to “Deal” with us, unless its DEMANDING WE give this or that concession…
Are there 435 other people in the entire world worse, more immature, more foolish, and more idiotic than the “people” in the US House? Maybe 99 others (sans Rand Paul) from the Senate. And it’s good they can’t work on other things – at least there will be no legislation calling for more taxes.
McCarthy’s people are out there trying to buy Democrat votes to get himself elected instead of negotiating with conservatives. He’s offering committee positions to Democrats as I write this and it’s starting to be reported in some media now. This is why 20 conservatives, apparently the ONLY 20 in the House, are voting against McCarthy.
The fact, he feels “ENTITLED” to the spot, says it ALL..