House speaker vote: McCarthy thanks Trump for final votes as fight nearly breaks out on floor
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Your support makes all the difference.Kevin McCarthy was finally elected speaker of the House of Representatives after 15 rounds of voting, clinching the gavel just after midnight on Saturday.
The longest contest for speaker of the House of Representatives in more than a century finally came to an end as six remaining Republican holdouts opted to vote “present”, giving Mr McCarthy a majority over Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.
Earlier, Republican House member Mike Rogers had to be physically restrained after lunging at Matt Gaetz amid chaotic scenes in the House.
Congressman Richard Hudson grabbed Mr Rogers by his face and physically pulled him away.
In his first speech as speaker, Mr McCarthy thanked former president Donald Trump for “helping get those final votes”.
Mr McCarthy’s bid had been delayed by a group of far-right Republicans including the likes of Lauren Boebert and Mr Gaetz.
However, on Friday he made significant progress in the 12th ballot, managing to flip a total of 14 representatives-elect in his favour after lengthy negotiations.
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Why is Spartz voting ‘present'
Rep Victoria Spartz issues a statement on her “present” votes:
We have a constitutional duty to elect the Speaker of the House, but we have to deliberate further as a Republican conference until we have enough votes and stop wasting everyone’s time. None of the Republican candidates have this number yet. That’s why I voted present after all votes were cast.
Crenshaw: 20 holdouts show themselves to be ‘unbelievably unserious'
Rep Dan Crenshaw of Texas, a die-hard McCarthy supporter, is not amusedby the continuing obstruction by the Never Kevin group.
Dylan Wells of The Washington Post has these remarks from him about the 20 defectors.
“I’m tired of your stupid platitudes that some consultant told you to say on the campaign trail, alright. Behind closed doors tell us what you actually want, or shut the f*** up,” he said.
“They need to be men and adults and say what they want, instead of playing these little games, that’s what we’re asking. That’s what I’ve asked them. Some of them are my friends. Stop saying platitudes like, ‘Washington is broken. We can’t do the status quo,’” he continued.
“They want to pull the pins on the grenades and lock the doors,” Mr Crenshaw said of the effort.
“I think the 20 holdouts are continuing to show themselves to be unbelievably unserious. Now they’re just choosing random people. They don’t have a plan,” he said. “It’s almost like they want to make the point that they don’t have a plan.”
“They have zero ability to articulate what they want that would cause them to vote yes. It is utterly confusing, and then they get mad at us for criticising, it’s actually quite hilarious the self victimisation that occurs,” he said of his attempts at outreach to the group.
“I can hold out forever,” he added. “McCarthy would have to resign from Congress, then I’ll consider an alternative — but I’ll tell you what, whoever that 20 wants, I will never vote for that person. I do not care who it is. They want to play this game, we’ll play the game.”
With a speaker not elected, here we go with a sixth ballot
Rep Kat Cammack of Florida nominates Kevin McCarthy for the sixth ballot and begins by referencing the movie Groundhog Day.
She says of the process: “Nothing great ever comes easy.”
A moment of disorder in the House when Rep Kammack suggested that Democrats were using “popcorn and blanks and alcohol over there”.
Angry Democrats shouted her down and asked the House to “take down her words”.
Rep Aguilar nominates Rep Hakeem Jeffries for the sixth time, noting that he has led the vote for the previous five ballots.
Rep Scott Perry nominates Rep Byron Donalds for speaker once again as the candidate for the Never Kevin group.
“This is not about personalities,” says Mr Perry to jeers from the Democrats.
The sixth roll call ballot is now underway.
Rep Ken Buck — who had threatened that his fifth vote was the last he’d give McCarthy — did not vote when his name was called.
He may appear at the end of the roll call.
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