Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reacts after a fourth round of voting for a new House Speaker on the second day of the 118th Congress, Wednesday, January 4, 2023, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC. The House reconvened after failing to elect a speaker Tuesday on three straight ballots.
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Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy has been dealt defeat after defeat in his bid for the House speakership.
He's lost a record 8 times as a hardline faction of his party refuses to support him becoming speaker.
Democrats, meanwhile, have watched with glee while rejecting pleas to throw McCarthy a lifeline.
It's been a rough week for California Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy as he loses vote after vote in his bid to become speaker of the House of Representatives.
McCarthy needs 218 votes to take the gavel, but he's failed to reach that number eight times as 20 members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus refuse to support his speakership bid.
The chaos has left the House itself vacant; the chamber currently has zero members and it cannot swear in lawmakers, introduce any bills, or pass legislation until a speaker is elected.
Democrats, meanwhile, have watched with glee as the GOP grapples with a full-blown revolt by a hardline faction against the party's establishment wing, just weeks after it gained control of the House in the November midterms. Multiple Democratic representatives-elect have also made it clear that the party will not throw McCarthy a lifeline as his path to the speakership narrows with each round of voting.
McCarthy was initially confident in his bid for speaker after winning the nomination at a House GOP leadership meeting in November, following the midterm elections.
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But members of the House Freedom Caucus threw a wrench into McCarthy's campaign, saying they wouldn't support his bid unless he committed to less government spending and agreed to give the party more power to remove the speaker.Rep. Andy Biggs, a Republican of Arizona, speaks during the Freedom Caucus press conference on immigration outside the Capitol on Wednesday, March 17, 2021.
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"If you want to drain the swamp, you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge of the exercise," Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz, a member of the HFC and one of the holdouts, said this week. "I'm a Florida man and I know of what I speak."Republican Rep.-elect Matt Gaetz of Florida on January 3, 2023.
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McCarthy has since suffered a string of 8 defeats. It's the first time in a century that a speaker hasn't been elected after one round of ballots.Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reacts after a fourth round of voting for a new House Speaker on the second day of the 118th Congress, Wednesday, January 4, 2023, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington DC. The House reconvened after failing to elect a speaker Tuesday on three straight ballots.
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Democrats, meanwhile, are sitting back and watching the drama unfold.Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., listens during the vote for speaker of the House on Jan. 3, 2023.
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Others are watching with glee. "About to go to the House floor," California Rep.-elect Ted Lieu tweeted earlier this week, alongside a photo of him holding a bag of popcorn.
Democrats have made it clear that they will not bail out McCarthy.Gaetz talks with Reps.-elect Angie Craig, D-Minn., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., in the House chamber as the House met on Jan. 4 for a second day to elect a speaker.
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Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was spotted speaking with Gaetz and Rep.-elect Paul Gosar on the House floor, told reporters that Democrats would "absolutely not" rescue McCarthy's bid for the speakership.
"At the end of the day, this is a Republican mess," Democratic Rep.-elect Ro Khanna told CNN. "This is a failure of them to govern. This is their problem to fix."Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, on a reintroduction of a resolution to end U.S. support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
While Republicans are in disarray, Democrats nominated New York Rep.-elect Hakeem Jeffries for House speaker. He's the first Black lawmaker nominated for the position.Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (center) is poised to become Democratic minority leader in 2023 while Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts will serve as minority whip, the Democrats' No. 2 position. This will mark a generational shift for Democrats in the House, who are currently led by three octogenarians.
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It's very unclear what comes next. Democratic leadership has advised all its members to remain in Washington, DC until someone gets the gavel.A view of the House chamber as the House meets for the third day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023.
That's because the speaker is elected by members who are present in the House chamber — meaning that if any Democrats leave the Capitol, it will lower the threshold of votes required for a Republican to be elected speaker.Jeffries talks with Pelosi during the eighth vote in the House chamber as the House meets for the third day to elect a speaker.