Not seen in a century of political drama in Congress, Republican leader Kevin McCarthy repeatedly failed in his bid to be elected speaker of the US House of Representatives.
The House adjourned on Tuesday night without a Speaker – the first time since 1923 that they failed to elect a leader after the first round of voting.
The start of a new Congress was seen as a victory lap for the Republican Party as it took control of the lower house after the November elections. Instead, Mr McCarthy faced a rebellion from within his own ranks and made history for all the wrong reasons.
The California congressman has lost three consecutive votes for speaker so far, and it’s unclear what his path to victory might be when the House returns to try again on Wednesday. They will continue to vote until someone gets a majority.
And even if Mr. McCarthy gets his way, analysts warn, the upheaval on the House floor could herald a tumultuous two years of moderate and right-wing Republicans at war with each other. says
‘Negotiations showed him to be weak’
Republicans narrowly won control of the House in November, leaving Mr. McCarthy with only a handful of votes left in his bid to become speaker. This allowed a group of hard-line conservatives to come together to oppose his nomination.
According to JEE News, the rift was a long time coming.
“Kevin McCarthy hasn’t made friends with certain sections of the caucus for a while, he’s made a lot of enemies,” said one Republican lobbyist, who opened up about Tuesday’s vote. Requested anonymity to speak. “There are people who don’t like it for political reasons, for personal reasons.”
Mr McCarthy has negotiated with his opponents – who see him as too mainstream and power-hungry – to offer concessions to try to win their vote. At one point, he reportedly agreed to change House rules to make it easier to oust a sitting speaker, handing his opponents a formidable check on their power.
“The fact that he was communicating with Republicans at all made him look frustratingly weak,” the Republican lobbyist said.
His opponents were encouraged
The futility of that approach became clear on Tuesday.
In three consecutive votes, Mr McCarthy failed to reach the required 218-vote threshold. Although the Republicans held 222 seats, a bloc of 19 hard-right Republicans had solidified in their opposition. He opposes Mr. McCarthy on ideological and personal grounds, but also sees an opportunity to exploit the narrow Republican majority to extract more concessions from him.
Rep. Rob Goode, Republican of Virginia, told reporters Tuesday that he would “never back down.”
