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.
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
Watch: Rep Good makes it clear he’s a no on McCarthy
Rep Bob Good makes his voting intentions clear.
“I’m absolutely a no. You don’t ever have to ask me again if I’m a no. Never have to ask me again if I’m a no on Kevin McCarthy. I will never vote for Kevin McCarthy.”
Got that, everyone?
Democrats: Speaker debacle has gone from funny to dangerous
The Independent’s Eric Garcia spoke with key House Democrats on Capitol Hill to get their perspective as we enter the third day of the Republican Party’s attempts to select a speaker.
He spoke with representatives Adam Schiff, Cori Bush, Abigail Spanberger, Ted Lieu, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Democrats say Republicans’ speaker debacle has gone from funny to dangerous
But Democrats don’t expect to bail out Republicans anytime soon
Uncertain plan for when House in session
The plan for what happens when the House resumes at midday is uncertain, Punchbowl News reports.
There is likely to be at least on floor vote for the speaker — which could give an indication of how well Kevin McCarthy’s negotiations with the 20 holdouts are going.
Republican leadership has discussed trying to adjourn for the weekend, but there is reportedly no plan in place, and that would likely face stiff opposition from Democrats and potentially some of the GOP who want to power on through and elect a speaker.
Voices: Why you shouldn’t laugh at the House speaker chaos
Eric Garcia, The Independent’s Washington bureau chief, writes from the US Capitol:
This is why you shouldn’t laugh at the House speaker chaos
Kevin McCarthy’s House speaker bid has revealed a key issue within the GOP
Rep Bishop corrects earlier report
Rep Dan Bishop has corrected an earlier report that he would resign if Kevin McCarthy were to become speaker.
“I will serve my termwith all the force and vigour in me.”
McCarthy confident he’ll get to 218 votes, but won’t say when
As he left a meeting with allies as the House session is about to begin, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy said he was confident he would get to 218 votes but would not say when that might happen.
"I don't pick the day. I'm confident we'll get to the solution, otherwise we won't be successful," he said.
“I think we’re having good discussions and I think everybody wants to find a solution. The good thing about is we work this all out at the beginning so the rest of the Congress will be very productive,” he continued.
"I just feel in these meetings the attitude of everyone is they want to find a solution that's positive," Mr McCarthy added.
House in session as chair conducts quorum call
The House is in session following the morning prayer and pledge of allegiance.
Rep Elise Stefanik asked the chair for a quorum call which is now underway.
Seventh ballot nominations kick off
Nominating Kevin McCarthy for the seventh speaker ballot is freshman Rep-elect John James of Michigan.
It is his first time speaking on the floor of the House, he tells the story of how his family has gone from slaves to the floor of the US House of Representatives.
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