House speaker vote: McCarthy thanks Trump for final votes as fight nearly breaks out on floor
This blog has now closed.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
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.
Exclusive: AOC says Republican chaos shows how reasonable progressives like the Squad are
Shock scenes as Republican held back in confrontation with Matt Gaetz during Speaker vote
How Matt Gaetz and AOC cleared the air on their positions over Kevin McCarthy voteTrump phone-ins, near-fights and 15 votes: Key moments from a chaotic House Speaker election
Kinzinger debuts in new role... commenting on his old role
Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger has been hired by CNN as a senior political commentator.
Mr Kinzinger, 44, a staunch critic of former president Donald Trump, served in the House select committee investigating the Jan 6 Capitol riots. The Illinois representative’s term in Congress ended earlier this week after being a member of the House for over a decade.
In his first appearance on the network, Kinzinger joined Erin Burnett to discuss the current situation in his former workplace.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports.
Anti-Trump Republican Adam Kinzinger revealed in new role – as CNN political pundit
CNN anchor announces Kinzinger’s suprise hiring on air
McCarthy: ‘I think we’re making progress’
On his way into his still placard-less speaker’s office, Kevin McCarthy said: “I think we’re making progress ... Look, we’re all working together to find a solution.”
‘Best season of CSPAN... ever'
You know what they say … the seventh time is the charm?
That’s a bad joke, but the good jokes have been flowing on Twitter since Tuesday, as Representative Kevin McCarthy of California has lost six consecutive votes to elevate him as House Speaker amid vicious intra-GOP fighting.
Josh Marcus reports.
‘Best season of CSPAN ever’: Twitter has field day with House GOP’s speaker vote saga
Even Wikipedia got in on the action
Stephanie Ruhle schools Boebert on how appropriations work
MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle pushed back on Rep Lauren Boebert’s assertion that as the speaker drama played out Congress was not spending money it didn’t have. Ms Boebert made the same argument on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News referring to spending on the war in Ukraine.
Ruhle explained to Rep Boebert that everything already put in place was not going to stop while the House was without a speaker.
Former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin commented that it was “incredible” and that “you can see the lightbulb in her head going off” as Ruhle explained congressional appropriations.
You can watch the exchange below:
Here’s out report on what she said on Hannity.
Boebert says Republican chaos is fine as it means US isn’t sending money to Ukraine
‘Government isn’t spending money sending it to Ukraine so the American taxpayers are certainly winning’
‘Never Kevin’ holdout Bishop says he will resign if McCarthy prevails, report says
With six votes resulting in six stalemates and no speaker, Rep Dan Bishop of North Carolina, one of the anti-Kevin McCarthy group of GOP holdouts, has said that if their efforts to stop Mr McCarthy from becoming speaker fails, he would resign.
“We’re going to either see improvement up here the same way we made remarkable improvements in North Carolina in the state legislature, or I’m out,” Fox News reports Mr Bishop told Roll Call in an interview published early on Thursday.
He said that during Mr McCarthy's 14 years in Republican leadership, the wannabe speaker has repeated the same things over and over again about threats facing the country, but “every one of them has gotten worse, not better”.
Mr Bishop added that as someone who is “older than the average bear” and “not going to stay up here for decades” he had no problem taking a “never Kevin” stance during the leadership fight.
Who are the Republicans voting against McCarthy
These are the 20 House Republicans who have voted against Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become speaker.
- Rep Andy Biggs
- Rep Dan Bishop
- Rep Lauren Boebert
- Rep-elect Josh Brecheen
- Rep Michael Cloud
- Rep Andrew Clyde
- Rep-elect Eli Crane
- Rep Byron Donalds
- Rep Matt Gaetz
- Rep Bob Good
- Rep Paul Gosar
- Rep Andy Harris
- Rep-elect Anna Paulina Luna
- Rep Mary Miller
- Rep Ralph Norman
- Rep-elect Andy Ogles
- Rep Scott Perry
- Rep Matt Rosendale
- Rep Chip Roy
- Rep-elect Keith Self
In addition, Rep Victoria Spartz of Indiana voted present three times lowering the threshold to become speaker from 218 to 217.
Pelosi calls out ‘cavalier attitude’ of GOP to electing speaker
Former (still current?) Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi chastised Republicans for their ongoing inability to elect a speaker for the 118th Congress in a tweet on Wednesday night.
“All who serve in the House share a responsibility to bring dignity to this body,” she wrote. “Sadly, Republicans' cavalier attitude in electing a Speaker is frivolous, disrespectful and unworthy of this institution.”
Ms Pelosi added: “We must open the House and proceed with the People's work.”
With no speaker, House has no members and no rules
As Republicans continue to squabble over who will be the next speaker, there are essentially no members in the U.S. House of Representatives — only members-elect.
Without a speaker, none of the them can be sworn in, and the 118th Congress can’t convene or vote on any rules. Parliamentary procedure has been jettisoned in favor of controlled chaos. Members of both parties are unsure whether they can call votes or make motions on the floor because there is no speaker to rule on their requests. Committees can’t be formed and legislation can’t be passed.
US House has no members, no rules as speaker race drags on
As Republicans squabble over who will be the next speaker, there are essentially no members in the U.S. House of Representatives — only members-elect
Jeffries hopes today GOP will stop ‘bickering’, ‘backbiting’, and ‘backstabbing’
Rep Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrat House minority leader says: “It’s my hope that today, the House Republicans will stop the bickering, stop the backbiting, and stop the backstabbing of each other so we can have the back of the American people — that’s what we were elected to do.”
Watch:
McCarthy under pressure to ‘figure out’ speaker race
House Republicans are a crossroads as leader Kevin McCarthy has failed over and over again to become House speaker, but he remains determined to persuade enough right-flank holdouts to vote for him and end a stalemate with no end in sight.
What started as a political novelty, the first time in 100 years a nominee has not won the gavel on the first vote, has devolved into a bitter Republican Party feud and deepening potential crisis.
McCarthy is under growing pressure from restless Republicans, and Democrats, to find the votes he needs or step aside, so the House can open fully and get on with the business of governing. His right-flank detractors appear intent on waiting him out, as long as it takes.
GOP's McCarthy pressured to 'figure out' speaker race
Pressure is building on Republican Kevin McCarthy to determine whether or not he can win over enough fellow Republicans to become House speaker
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments