U.S. House Republicans flailed through a second day of multiple balloting on Wednesday, unable to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as House Speaker in six rounds of voting — or to come up with a new strategy to end the political chaos that has tarnished the start of their new majority.
Following the day’s three failed votes, the House voted to adjourn until 8 p.m. ET.
Representatives rejected Republican Kevin McCarthy’s bid to lead the chamber in three consecutive votes Wednesday, for a two-day total of six rounds, as the House plunged deeper into disarray. All three ballots Wednesday returned the same end result, with conservative holdouts still refusing to support him. McCarthy fell far short of the 218 votes typically needed to win on the fourth, fifth and sixth ballots.
“Well, it’s Groundhog Day,” said Republican Rep. Kat Cammack, in nominating McCarthy on the sixth ballot.
“To all Americans watching right now, We hear you. And we will get through this — no matter how messy,” she said.
But the right-flank conservatives, led by the Freedom Caucus and aligned with Donald Trump, appeared emboldened by the standoff — even though Trump publicly backed McCarthy.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, a firm Colorado conservative who nominated Rep. Byron Donalds — the chosen protest candidate of the day — called on Trump to tell McCarthy, “Sir, you do not have the votes and it’s time to withdraw.”
McCarthy, the California Republican vowed to keep fighting despite the gruelling spectacle, unlike any in modern times, that threw the new majority into tumult a day earlier. Animated private discussions broke out on the chamber floor between McCarthy supporters and detractors searching for an endgame.
‘It looks messy’
The House gavelled in at noon, and a McCarthy ally quickly renominated him for the job with a rousing speech designed to peel off detractors.
“Sure, it looks messy,” Rep. Mike Gallagher said. But democracy is messy, he said. “The American people are in charge.”
McCarthy himself entered the chamber saying, “We’ll have another vote.”
But the dynamic proved no different from the first day of voting on Tuesday. Democrats re-upped their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, for Speaker, and a right-flank leader from the Freedom Caucus offered another challenge to McCarthy — Donalds — in another history-making moment. Both Jeffries and Donalds are Black.
“This country needs leadership,” said Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, noting the first time in history two Black Americans were nominated for the high office, and lawmakers from both parties rose to applaud. The final tally on both the fourth and fifth ballots was 212 votes for Jeffries, 201 for McCarthy and 20 for Donalds.
With Jeffries and McCarthy on the fifth ballot, Donalds was nominated again on the sixth ballot, and again McCarthy fell short of the 218 required votes.
Trump endorsement fails to move votes
The stalemate the day before was the first time in 100 years that a nominee for House Speaker could not take the gavel on the first vote.
Early Wednesday, former president Donald Trump urged Republicans to vote for McCarthy: “CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY,” he wrote on his social media site, Truth Social. He added: “REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT.”
Trump, who while president once referred to McCarthy as “My Kevin,” still holds sway with…