Matt Gaetz leaves after meeting with Kevin McCarthy
Kevin McCarthy has been accused of “squatting” in Nancy Pelosi’s old office after the California Republican failed to secure the votes to become Speaker.
McCarthy failed three speaker votes on Tuesday, with a right-wing rebellion of 20 Republicans voting against him in the final ballot.
It has been described by one Republican political consultant as “the most humiliating day” of McCarthy’s political career – no Speaker-Designate has lost the vote in 100 years.
One of McCarthy’s biggest detractors, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, even penned a letter to Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton – in charge of maintenance in the Congress building – asking why Kevin McCarthy was allowed to “squat” in the speaker’s office.
Gaetz wrote: “What is the basis in law, House rule, or precedent to allow someone who has placed second in three successive speaker elections to occupy the Speaker of the House Office?
“How long will he remain there before he is considered a squatter? Please write back promptly as it seems Mr. McCarthy can no longer be considered Speaker-Designate following today’s balloting.”
Several representatives turned on McCarthy, citing his bi-partisan efforts with Democrats to pass large spending bills, among other issues.
Mike Madrid, co-founder of The Lincoln Project – a self proclaimed pro-Democracy organisation which has been critical of former-President Donald Trump – branded it “the most humiliating” day of McCarthy’s political career.
“I’ve known Kevin McCarthy for 25 years. He never imagined the most humiliating day of his political career would be the day he was nominated to be Speaker of the House,” he said in a tweet.
However, McCarthy was defiant and said he would not back down until he held the role which would make him third in line to the Presidency.
Asked if he would drop out, McCarthy said, “It’s not going to happen.” He added: “Today, is that the day I wanted to have? No.”
He also pointed to his endorsement from former President Donald Trump saying Trump “wants to see the Republicans united to be able to accomplish the exact things we said we’d do”.
Kevin McCarthy had a ‘humiliating’ day, losing three Speaker’s ballots. (Image: GETTY)
Matt Gaetz, one of McCarthy’s most vocal detractors, speaks with other members. (Image: GETTY)
It was a tumultuous start to the new Congress and pointed to difficulties ahead with Republicans now in control of the House.
Tensions flared among the new House majority as their campaign promises stalled out. Without a speaker, the House cannot fully form – swearing in its members, naming its committee chairmen, engaging in floor proceedings and launching investigations of the Biden administration.
Lawmakers’ families had waited around, as what’s normally a festive day descended into chaos, with kids playing in the aisles or squirming in parents’ arms.
But it was not at all clear how the embattled GOP leader could rebound to win over right-flank conservatives who reject his leadership. It typically takes a majority of the House to become speaker, 218 votes – though the threshold can drop if members are absent or merely vote present, an strategy McCarthy appeared to be considering.
McCarthy won no more than 203 votes in three rounds of voting, losing as many as 20 Republicans from his slim 222-seat majority,
Not since 1923 has a speaker’s election gone to multiple ballots, and the longest and most gruelling fight for the gavel started in late 1855 and dragged out for two months, with 133 ballots, during debates over slavery in the run-up to the Civil War.
“Kevin McCarthy is not going to be a speaker,” declared Representative Bob Good of Virginia, one of the holdouts.
A new generation of conservative Republicans, many aligned with Trump’s MAGA movement, want to upend business as usual in Washington, and were committed to stopping McCarthy’s rise without concessions to their priorities.
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Families of Congress members were present for the votes. (Image: GETTY)
As the spectacle of voting dragged on, McCarthy’s backers implored the holdouts to fall in line for the California Republican.
“We all came here to get things done,” the second-ranking Republican, Representative Steve Scalise, said in a speech nominating McCarthy for the vote and urging his colleagues to drop their protest.
Railing against Democratic President Joe Biden’s agenda, Scalise, himself a possible GOP compromise choice, said: “We can’t start fixing those problems until we elect Kevin McCarthy our next Speaker.”
But the holdouts forced a third and final round of voting before Republican leaders quickly adjourned Tuesday evening.
“The American people are watching, and it’s a good thing,” said Representative Chip Roy of Texas, who nominated fellow conservative Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio as an alternative for Speaker.
Jordan, the McCarthy rival-turned-ally, was twice pushed forward by conservatives, but he does not seem to want the job. The Ohio Republican is in line to become Judiciary Committee chairman, and he rose during the floor debate to urge his colleagues to instead vote for McCarthy.
“We have to rally around him, come together,” Jordan said.
In all, a core group of 19 Republicans – and then 20 – voted for someone other than McCarthy.
The standoff over McCarthy has been building since Republicans appeared on track to win the House majority in the midterm elections in November. While the Senate remains in Democratic hands, barely, House Republicans are eager to confront Biden after two years of the Democrats controlling both houses of Congress.
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Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat, won the most votes overall but not a majority. (Image: GETTY)
The conservative Freedom Caucus led the opposition to McCarthy, believing he’s neither conservative enough nor tough enough to battle Democrats.
To win support, McCarthy has already agreed to many of the demands of the Freedom Caucus, who have been agitating for rules changes and other concessions that give rank-and-file more influence in the legislative process.
He has been here before, having bowed out of the speakers race in 2015 when he failed to win over conservatives.
“Everything’s on the table,” said McCarthy ally Representative Patrick McHenry of North Carolina – expect, he said, having the leader step aside. “Not at all. That is not on the table.”
Democrats, by contrast, enthusiastically nominated Hakeem Jeffries, who is taking over as party leader, as their choice for speaker – a typically symbolic gesture for the minority but one that took on new importance with Republicans at odds with each other.
While Jeffries won the most votes overall, 212, it was not the majority to become speaker.
McCarthy focused on those numbers late Tuesday. If McCarthy could win 213 votes, and then persuade the remaining naysayers to simply vote present, he would be able to lower the threshold required under the rules to have the majority.
It’s a strategy former House speakers, including outgoing Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Speaker John Boehner had used when they confronted opposition, winning the gavel with fewer than 218 votes.
Said McCarthy late Tuesday at the Capitol: “You get 213 votes, and the others don’t say another name, that’s how you can win.”
