After GOP leader Kevin McCarthy failed to secure enough votes on Tuesday to win the speaker’s gavel in the first round, a runoff was necessary – the first time since 1923 that additional ballots were needed.
The vote for speaker will be subject to a runoff, followed by an unspecified number of additional votes if the candidate does not receive a majority. https://t.co/xMYnoLa78j pic.twitter.com/VrSRU3dWgH
— Yahoo News (@YahooNews) January 3, 2023
This is probably not the historic start the GOP leadership had hoped for as the majority party in the up-to-date Congress.
Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and Kevin McCarthy were renominated in the runoff. However, instead of renominating Rep. Andy Biggs as the GOP alternative to McCarthy, Rep. Matt Gaetz nominated Rep. Jim Jordan, who nominated McCarthy in the runoff.
.@RepMattGaetz: “I nominate Jim Jordan. Jim Jordan is humble, perhaps to a fault today. “Maybe the right person to be Speaker of the House of Representatives isn’t someone who wants it that badly.” pic.twitter.com/HJgJm4dDsU
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 3, 2023
In the runoff, McCarthy received 203 votes, Jeffries 212 and Jordan 19 votes as GOP opposition to McCarthy rallied around Jordan, even though the Ohio Republican cast his runoff vote for McCarthy.
It is worth noting that in the first round, 19 House Republicans voted for someone other than McCarthy, and in the second round all of the same members voted for Jordan. This means that no one joined McCarthy’s column in the runoff, thus failing to take up the speaker’s gavel again.
THIS IS WRAP on the second ballot. 19 members of the House of Representatives still vote against him – no more than in the first round of voting. It is clear that there is still a lot of work ahead of them.
In this round, all 19 voted for Jordan.
— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 3, 2023
The House will now proceed to a third round of voting, but House GOP leaders’ attempts to persuade rank-and-file Republicans to support McCarthy at Tuesday’s meeting appear to have backfired, as Republican Chip Roy – who voted for Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) in the first round of voting and Rep. Jim Jordan in the second round.
Congressman Chip Roy calls out Swamp LIVE on Fox News for their soiled tricks.
“This morning, a group of people threatened some of us and they lost their voices in this case.” pic.twitter.com/RcecOy4XbA
— Brigitte Gabriel (@ACTBrigitte) January 3, 2023
This is a developing story and may be updated.
