Dhe Republican Kevin McCarthy failed in the sixth round of voting to become Speaker of the House of Representatives. Twenty Republicans did not vote for their faction leader in the second session of Congress on Wednesday, but for the opposing candidate Byron Donalds. Because of the narrow majority in the House of Representatives, there can be a maximum of four dissenting votes for a win. MPs then voted to suspend the election for the time being. They wanted to meet again in the evening (local time/Thursday 2:00 a.m. CET).
Before the second day of voting, the faction leader was still confident of victory. However, reports in the American media showed the great pressure McCarthy is under. Accordingly, he and his supporters had considered adjourning the second session of Congress in order to avoid further publicly weakening the faction leader and to gain time for talks. However, the vote would also have required a majority of 218 votes (with 217 abstentions), which McCarthy probably would not have had. Five Republicans told Politico news magazine in advance that they planned to oppose such a motion.
In the first vote on Wednesday, Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin went to nominate McCarthy for the election. “People’s frustration is increasing,” Gallagher said. They all knew that there was a lot to do. But democracy is inherently chaotic – “that’s a feature, not a flaw, of our system.” Rep. Chip Roy, an open opponent of McCarthy, nominated Florida’s Byron Donalds as the Republican challenger in the fifth round. He dedicated his life to America’s progress. In the sixth round, Republican Kat Cammack nominated McCarthy and called on her party to rally behind him. Republican Congressman Scott Perry, on the other hand, again nominated Donalds as the opposing candidate.
Roy said the country needs leadership that doesn’t come from Washington. The city is “completely broken.” McCarthy has been in the Republican party leadership for 14 years and represents the party’s establishment. Donalds withdrew his vote from McCarthy on Tuesday in the third ballot. The MP later wrote on Twitter that the reality was that McCarthy could not gather the necessary votes. Perry used similar words before Donald’s nomination: “This town is broken. And I want to fix them.” Donalds received all twenty dissenter Republican votes in the fourth, fifth and sixth votes Wednesday. Democratic candidate Hakeem Jeffries won all 212 Democratic votes.
“It’s time for him to give up”
McCarthy had campaigned on the party’s right flank in recent weeks, promising MPs posts and changes to the Rules of Procedure, including simplifying a vote of no confidence in the speaker. None of this could change the opposition’s mind. With the blockade of the speaker election, about a tenth of the Republican MPs are putting great pressure on the parliamentary group. Without a Speaker, the House of Representatives cannot begin its work. Only when the third-highest political office in the United States has been filled will the new MPs be sworn in. In the November congressional elections, the Republicans had won only a slim majority in the first chamber; 222 Republicans face 212 Democrats. Therefore, McCarthy’s opponents are of particular importance.
Before the fifth vote, Representative Lauren Boebert, from the far right of Donald Trump’s party, called for McCarthy to be recalled. The “President” must tell him that he does not have the necessary votes to win. “It’s time for him to give up.” Earlier on Wednesday, Trump called on Republicans more clearly than before to vote for McCarthy. “Don’t turn a great victory into a huge and embarrassing defeat,” he wrote on his social network Truth Social. McCarthy will do a good job, “maybe even a great one”. Most of the twenty or so MPs who initially refused to support McCarthy question the legality of the 2020 presidential election, just like Trump.
Congressional Democrats criticized the Republican argument ahead of the second session. At a press conference Wednesday morning, Democrat second man Rep. Pete Aguilar said, “This is a crisis of Congress. A crisis created by the dysfunctionality of the Republicans.” The fact that the representatives are not yet sworn in and cannot yet start their work is the result of the Republican chaos. President Joe Biden said in Washington on Wednesday that the Republicans’ protracted dispute was “embarrassing” and not making a good impression on the world. He hopes they settle him soon.
