McCarthy’s Speaker Bid secures 213 votes but falls short

On Jan 6, 2023

Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy, on the 12th ballot, won 213 votes on Friday, making considerable progress in securing a majority to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. However, he still fell short of the number of votes he needed.

With the number of votes secured, he had more than the 201 he received a day earlier–bringing him closer to the 218-vote majority. About a dozen far-right legislators opposed to McCarthy’s bid flipped and voted for him on Friday. Still, a contingency of seven rebels was enough to thwart the Republican leader’s push for a majority.

Among them was Byron Donalds, who went from being a Speaker nominee to voting for McCarthy. Donalds said he trusts McCarthy to do “the job necessary to lead our conference. The flipped votes are a show of food faith that they’re willing to make negotiations,” he said.

He placed the last four days positively, stating that it is monumental for Americans to see an actual deliberative process in action.

For the first time since the voting began on Tuesday, McCarthy outperformed Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who received 211 votes on Friday. Despite the progress, questions persisted over McCarthy’s ability to lead a thin Republican majority with members willing to defy and undermine him.

Before the vote, hard-right Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida delivered a defiant speech rebuking McCarthy and accusing him of being beholden to special interest groups.

“Mr McCarthy doesn’t have the votes today; he will not have the votes tomorrow, and he will not have the votes next week, next month, next year,” Gaetz said.

Now, the house is heading to a 13th vote. Only four speaker’s elections required over 12 ballots in U.S. history, all of which came in the 1800s. McCarthy previously pledged to upset the Democratic agenda and intensify oversight over the administration of President Joe Biden as speaker.

The Republicans had presented many demands before agreeing to back McCarthy, including changing House rules to allow any member to bring a no-confidence vote on the speaker.

They also sought a bigger say on the House Rules and Appropriations committees, allowing them to influence the U.S. government budget and help decide which bills could move forward in the chamber. Details of the deal that saw most of them change their votes in favour of McCarthy remain unclear.

Meanwhile, in the latest report, Andy Harris from Maryland, one of the remaining holdouts, just flipped his vote for McCarthy.

Al Jazeera/BBC/S.O

Kevin McCarthy's Speaker Bid