WASHINGTON: On Friday, Kevin McCarthy finally gained some ground, winning new votes in the 12th and 13th rounds of voting, but Republicans who held out made it appear that he was still unable to cross the finish line.
Although Mr. McCarthy is getting closer to holding the speaker’s chair, he still lacks the required 218 votes.
He received 15 votes from the conservative camp in the 12th and 13th rounds, which prevented him from becoming the House Speaker in the 118th Congress.
Mr. McCarthy was nominated for the 13th ballot by Republican James Comer. He was pleased to be taken aback in the thirteenth round because none of his conservative rivals had chosen to challenge him. This standoff which has lasted a week is the first time that has occurred.
A new vote has already begun because Mr. McCarthy lost by just a few votes in the most recent vote.
Before Friday, California Republican Mr. McCarthy had lost 11 votes in a row, making this the longest speakership battle since 1859. 11 more than his previous high of 202 votes, he received 213 of them. Hakeem Jeffries, his Democratic rival, received 211, one less than the 212 he received on each of the previous 11 counts.
Jim Jordan, a conservative Republican, received four votes, while Kevin Hern, another conservative, received three. 13 of the 20 conservative House Republicans members abstained, delaying Mr. McCarthy’s bid for speaker once more.
Read: US House fails to elect new speaker in first rounds of voting
Mainstream Republicans greeted conservatives who stood to vote for Mr. McCarthy with enthusiastic applause each time.
The situation finally started to improve in favor of Mr. McCarthy, who made numerous concessions to hardline members of his party in order to win their votes after four days of gridlock. In the previous votes, 14 of the holdouts changed their votes to support McCarthy, but it was not enough to win the seat for him.
On Friday morning, the day that the United States marked the second anniversary of the attack on Congress on January 6, 2021, Mr. McCarthy resumed his long struggle for the speakership.
The attack was supported by some conservative lawmakers who are currently opposing Mr. McCarthy. In addition to opposing the rioting, Mr. McCarthy called President Trump and requested that he withdraw his rioters.
However, Mr. Trump now backs Mr. McCarthy and has asked the Freedom Caucus, a conservative group, to vote for him. His appeal appears to have been ignored.
In exchange for their votes, the conservatives are requesting a significant reduction in the power of the speaker, increased budgetary authority, and representation in influential House committees.
The House cannot make any decisions until it has a speaker to lead the proceedings, so all other business has stalled.