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
Final result of 7th ballot
Jeffries: 212 votes
McCarthy: 201 votes
Donalds: 19 votes
Trump: 1 vote
Here we go with Round 8 in the vote for speaker of the House
Rep Brian Mast of Florida nominates Kevin McCarthy.
Rep Katherine Clark of Massachusetts nominates Hakeem Jeffries (noting how he got more votes than anyone in every round of voting).
Rep Andy Biggs of Arizona nominates Byron Donalds.
Eighth round of voting produces a new nominee
Lauren Boebert and Josh Brecheen have changed their votes to Rep Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, like Rep Jim Jordan on day one of voting, a McCarthy supporter.
Ms Boebert revelled in saying she was voting for “Kevin”.
Hern said he would think and pray about the job of speaker
Reese Gorman of Oklahoma’s The Frontier spoke with Rep Kevin Hern about what he would do if his name would put forward for the speaker position.
He replied: “If I hear my name, it’s something I’ll have to think and pray about before deciding if it’s a job I’ll run for.”
With CSPAN providing an unfiltered live feed of all the action on the floor of the House of Representatives as the votes continue to name a speaker, we’ve been treated to an interesting insight into how Congress functions.
There have been some memorable still images captured too as lawmakers have laughed, cringed, appeared frustrated, and huddled in tense negotiation between ballots.
Here is a selection:
Reminder: Representatives-elect can’t be sworn-in until a speaker is chosen
Until a speaker is chosen, none of the representatives-elect can be sworn in.
It’s not just an inconvenience to members — no congressional work can be done including on national security issues.
Eight ballots in and still no speaker
Here’s the result of the eighth ballot.
Jeffries: 212 votes
McCarthy: 201 votes
Donalds: 17 votes
Hern: 2 votes (Rep Lauren Boebert, Rep Josh Brecheen)
Present: 1 vote
Trump: 1 vote (Rep Matt Gaetz)
Gov Larry Hogan calls out ‘performative arts school of politics'
Republican Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan called out “show ponies” in politics as the speaker stalemate continues in Washington.
Attaching a video of a speech he made in October 2022, Mr Logan tweeted: “Enough of the circus and performative arts school of politics. We need more of the get-to-work and get-things done school of politics. America needs workhorses, not more show ponies.”
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