The House of Representatives adjourned on Tuesday without choosing a new speaker as Rep Kevin McCarthy failed to win a majority on three ballots. This is the eighth time in history a speaker hadn’t been chosen after three ballots.
After the second ballot, McCarthy insisted to reporters that the party is “unified.”
He said: “This isn’t about me. This is about the conference now because the members who are holding out … they want something for their personal selves.”
But McCarthy had lost another Republican on the third round. Rep Byron Donalds of Florida, who had pledged to support McCarthy on the first two ballots but not after that — suggesting that he could lose more as the vote could move into further ballots.
Tuesday’s vote marked the first time in 100 years that the House speaker vote went to multiple ballots.
Members will reconvene tomorrow at noon local time to vote in round four.
Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who gaveled in the session in her last act as speaker, told reporters after the second round that she had hoped Republicans would unite since they are in the majority, but “that’s their problem.”
The Californian congressman needed a 218-vote majority, but last-minute concessions failed to convince a number of more conservative Republicans to back him.
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While Jeffries is technically leading the race to become speaker, he is unlikely to win, as Republicans hold a slim overall majority in the House
President Joe Biden is facing a Republican majority in the House for the first time but Democrats will keep control of the Senate.
