After flipping 14 votes in his favor, McCarthy loses yet another floor vote in seemingly endless House speaker bid
Andrew Harnik/AP
- Kevin McCarthy lost his 13th speaker ballot Friday.
- The California Republican managed to flip more than half of the holdouts who've blocked him so far.
- The converts are still reviewing rules changes McCarthy has promised in exchange for the gavel.
Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy lost his twelfth bid to become House speaker on Friday but managed to peel off more than half of the 20 dissenters who've kept his leadership quest on hold while slowly stripping him of power.
The pickups by the California Republican's camp marked the first momentum shift in his direction after 11 straight defeats. McCarthy predicted that the reversal of fortune on his way into the chamber, telling congressional reporters that a long night of "sitting and talking" with GOP holdouts demanding more say in the 118th Congress would finally bear fruit.
"Watch here and you'll see some people who have been voting against me voting for me," McCarthy told reporters at the US Capitol.
McCarthy wound up with 213 votes on the 12th ballot — marking the first team he eclipsed the 212 votes Democratic Rep.-elect Hakeem Jeffries' has routinely scored this week — but shy of the 217 votes needed to secure the speakership given the current membership of the House (434). He won over another dissident on the thirteenth ballot, raising his tally to 214.
Republican Reps.-elect Ken Buck of Colorado and Wesley Hunt of Texas, both McCarthy supporters, were both absent Friday morning because of personal reasons, while Democratic Rep.-elect David Trone missed the first vote because of a scheduled surgery. And Rep-elect Victoria Spartz of Indiana rejoined the fold after voting "present" the past few days.
The 13 converts who first switched sides amid swirling concessions from McCarthy about everything from House rules to plum committee assignments include: Rep.-elects Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Mike Cloud of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Byron Donalds of Florida, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Mary Miller of Illinois, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Chip Roy of Texas, and Keith Self of Texas.
Brecheen announced that he'd finally come around based on an a still-very-fluid deal "that has been negotiated in good faith."
—Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 6, 2023
"What we have agreed to is transfromative and will allow conservatives to rein in out-of-control spending," Brecheen said in an official statement.
Rep.-elect Andy Harris of Maryland deserted the opposition camp on the 14th ballot.
Reps.-elect Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado remain firmly opposed to McCarthy, nominating Reps.-elect Jim Jordan of Ohio and Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, respectively, as alternative candidates.
Gaetz needled McCarthy and his supporters while at the mic, telling his increasingly frustrated colleagues that the man just doesn't deserve the top job.
"You only earn the position if you get the votes," Gaetz said on the House floor, a taunt that caused McCarthy supporter Rep-elect Mike Bost of Illinois to shout his disapproval.
—bryan metzger (@metzgov) January 6, 2023