How Kevin McCarthy became the biggest Speaker disgrace in history
After 11 votes, he still couldn’t get his ducks in a row.
The 118th Congress made history again Thursday when Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy failed to win the presidency for the 11th time after eight hours of voting. It was the first time since 1859 that the House had cast more than nine votes to elect a new Speaker.
McCarthy entered his third day of voting for the candidacy with renewed vigour amid reports that he had made significant concessions to his 20-odd critics at the Republican convention.
But the ongoing negotiations failed to shake McCarthy’s critics, who continued to vote against him with three votes on Thursday, with McCarthy earning his 200 votes in his ninth ballot to win. He lost 18 votes from his 218 votes needed. Thursday’s poll included a few surprises. Far-right congressman Matt Gates, a Republican from Florida, voted for Donald Trump twice. The U.S. Constitution does not require the Speaker of the House to be a member of the House of Representatives, so Congress does not have to support that fellow. Trump didn’t get any more votes.
Another McCarthy critic, Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, nominated Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hahn for the ninth ballot. Hern, chairman of the Republican Study Commission, won the support of several members in…
