Republicans divided, McCarthy fails for 3rd day in GOP House speaker fight

For a long and frustrating third day, divided Republicans left the speaker's chair of the US House sitting empty Thursday, as party leader Kevin McCarthy failed again and again in an excruciating string of ballots to win enough GOP votes to seize the chamber's gavel.

Pressure was building as McCarthy lost seventh, eighth and then historic ninth and 10th rounds of voting, surpassing the number it took the last time this happened, 100 years ago, in a prolonged fight to choose a speaker in a disputed election.

With McCarthy's supporters and foes locked in stalemate, feelings of boredom and desperation seemed increasingly evident with no quick end in sight.

One McCarthy critic, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, cast votes in two rounds for Donald Trump, a symbolic but pointed sign of the broader divisions over the Republican Party's future.

"It's not happening," said Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado who nominated a new alternative, Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, and urged fellow Republicans to embra