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
Gaetz nominates Jordan
Rep Matt Gaetz nominates Jim Jordan to be speaker arguing he has “more vision” than Kevin McCarthy.
He adds that maybe the right person for the job as speaker of the House isn’t someone who wants it so bad.
“Jim Jordan is the right person for speaker of the house because he is not beholden to the lobbyists and special interests.”
Rep Lauren Boebert agrees:
Third ballot already on cards
We are only in the Cs of an alphabetical vote of the House and already enough lawmakers have voted against Kevin McCarthy to trigger a third ballot.
Former Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin has seen this before
Former Trump White House aide Alyssa Farah Griffin believes the House Freedom Caucus is using a playbook from 2015, before Donald Trump won.
She says they wanted to run Jim Jordan against Paul Ryan and then nominate a consensus conservative after multiple ballots. The plan was for that person to be Mike Pompeo.
Scattered jeers heard as George Santos casts first House vote
Newly-elected House member George Santos was mocked on the House floor by at least one of his critics on Tuesday as he cast his first-ever vote in Congress for Kevin McCarthy to be elected speaker.
John Bowden reports from Washington, DC.
Scattered jeers heard as George Santos casts first House vote for Kevin McCarthy
New York Republican sat alone on House floor as weight of scandals persists
Never Kevins all backing Jordan in second ballot
All 19 Republicans who rejected Kevin McCarthy in the first ballot rejected him again in the second ballot.
Whereas in the first ballot they were split between candidates, in the second all 19 have voted for Jim Jordan, despite his backing of McCarthy.
Democrats gloat afte GOP fails to elect speaker for first time in 100 years
House Democrats on Tuesday took to Twitter for victory laps after Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries earned votes from all 212 members of the House Democratic Caucus, besting California Representative Kevin McCarthy in the first failed vote to elect a House Speaker since 1923.
Andrew Feinberg reports on the latest.
Democrats gloat after GOP majority fails to elect speaker for first time in 100 years
Mr McCarthy could not garner enough GOP votes to claim the speaker’s gavel after two consecutive voice votes
McCarthy fails to win speakership again in second ballot
Kevin McCarthy fails to win House speakership in the second round of voting as Republican opponents hold firm.
There is more voting ahead as the opposition doesn’t shift but consolidates behind a reluctant Jim Jordan.
Perry: Firmly committed to changing status quo
Rep Scott Perry, a Never Kevin, tweets: “I stand firmly committed to changing the status quo no matter how many ballots this takes. If @GOPLeader McCarthy had fought nearly as hard to defeat the failed, toxic policies of the @POTUS Biden Administration as he has for himself, he would be Speaker of the House right now.”
Rep Greene bemoans delay in electing speaker
Georgia Rep Marjorie Taylor Greene is bemoaning the party’s inability to get behind Kevin McCarthy and elect him as speaker.
She tweeted:
We can’t even swear in as members of congress until we elect a Speaker. We can’t form committees until we elect a Speaker. We (Republicans) can’t fire Nancy Pelosi loyal staff in the House & Capitol until we elect a Speaker. We can’t investigate anything until we have a Speaker.
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