'Groundhog Day': Republicans tried 6 times to elect a new speaker of the House of Representatives and failed

Republicans on Jan. 4 failed to elect their leader Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House of Representatives, nor come up with a new strategy to end the political chaos that made it difficult to launch their new majority rule, reports APNews.

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And yet McCarthy didn't give up even after the fourth, fifth and sixth ballots failed to produce better results and he had to try to cancel the night session. Even that decision was controversial, as the House of Representatives voted 216 to 214 - amid cheers and crowds - to adjourn for the night.

“There is no agreement yet,” McCarthy said as he left a lengthy closed-door meeting with key opponents and his allies. “But there is a lot of progress.”

No progress is in sight, and there have been long ballots as Republicans tried to put McCarthy in the top office. The ballots gave almost the same result: 20 conservative opponents still refused to support him. McCarthy missed the 218 votes normally needed to win.

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McCarthy saw his supporters drop to 201 as one Republican abstained.

Seeing no quick way out of the political standoff, the Republicans unexpectedly voted late in the evening to postpone the meeting for several hours as they desperately sought a way out of the chaos of their own creation. They were supposed to return in the evening, but McCarthy wanted to take a break until January 5th.

“I think people need a little more time,” he explained. “I don’t think voting tonight will change anything.” But voting in the future may.”

McCarthy, a Californian Republican, vowed to fight to the end for the speaker's seat, despite a grueling procedure like no other. Such a long vote caused turmoil in the new majority in the first days of the new Congress. Lively private discussions broke out in the lower house and in close meetings throughout the Capitol between McCarthy's supporters and opponents.

"It's Groundhog Day," said Rep. Kat Cammack, Florida, as she nominated McCarthy on the sixth ballot.

But right-wing conservatives, led by Freedom Caucus and on Donald Trump's side, seem to have taken heart in the confrontation, even though Trump publicly backed McCarthy.

“This is actually an invigorating day for America,” said Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who has been nominated three times as an alternative by his conservative colleagues. “There are a lot of members in the House who want to have a serious conversation about how we can wrap this all up and elect a speaker.”

Until a speaker is elected, legislators will not be able to deal with any other issues: new members of Congress cannot be sworn in, new laws cannot be passed, committees cannot be formed.

Hours later, the momentum was the same as on the first day, with Democrats renominating their leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker and Donalds challenging McCarthy at another historic moment. Both Jeffries and Donalds are African American.

“This country needs leadership,” said Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, noting that for the first time in history, two African Americans have been nominated to a high office. MPs from both parties stood up to applaud.

The last time such a situation, when the speaker of the House of Representatives could not be chosen in the first round, arose 100 years ago. Since 1923, the election of the speaker has not been held by multiple voting. In 1923, it took nine rounds to elect a candidate.
The longest and most exhausting struggle for the post began at the end of 1855 and dragged on for two months, when 133 ballots were submitted. This was during the slavery debate leading up to the Civil War.

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The disorganized start of the new Congress indicated difficulties ahead, as the Republicans now control the House of Representatives. Tensions escalated among the new House majority as their campaign promises of competent leadership stalled.

A new generation of conservative Republicans, many of whom have joined Trump's "Make America Great Again" agenda, are determined to stop McCarthy's appointment without giving in to their priorities.

But even the most ardent supporters of Trump have not reached an agreement on this issue. Rep. Lauren Bobert, a staunch conservative from Colorado who nominated Donalds for the second time, urged Trump to tell McCarthy, "Sir, you have no votes and it's time to go."

Earlier, on January 4, Trump did the opposite - he called on Republicans to vote for McCarthy. “Come to an agreement, take a victory,” he wrote on his social media page in lowercase letters. “Don’t turn a great triumph into a gigantic and shameful defeat.”
As the play dragged on, McCarthy supporters pleaded with dissenters to join the California Republican.

"I do think there's a lot of pressure on members of both sides right now," Rep. Tom Cole said.

Controversy around McCarthy has been building since Republicans, seeking to end Democratic control of Washington, won a majority in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections. Freedom Caucus led the opposition to McCarthy, believing that he was not conservative enough and not strong enough to fight the Democrats.

To rally support, McCarthy has already agreed to many of the demands of Freedom Caucus, which have been campaigning for rule changes and other concessions to give rank-and-file members more influence.

And the McCarthy-affiliated campaign group, the Conservative Leadership Fund, offered another concession by saying it would no longer spend money on elections "in any open primary in safe Republican districts." Far-right lawmakers have complained that their preferred candidates for the House of Representatives are being treated unfairly as the campaign fund has invested its resources elsewhere.

But those who oppose McCarthy don't all have the same grievances, and he may never be able to win over some of them.

“I am ready to vote all night, all week, all month and never for this person,” said Rep. Matt Goetz.

Such staunch opposition carried echoes of McCarthy's previous bid for office, when he dropped out of the 2015 speaker race because he failed to defeat the Conservatives.

Democrats have enthusiastically nominated and are re-nominating their House leader Jeffreys on all six ballots for Speaker over the course of two days. He repeatedly received the most votes overall with 212.

If McCarthy could garner 213 votes and then convince the remaining naysayers to simply abstain, he could lower the threshold required by the rules to win a majority.

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It's a strategy used by former House speakers, including outgoing Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Boehner, when they ran into opposition with less than 218 votes.

One Republican, Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana, abstained in the January 4 vote, but in the end it only reduced the overall vote for McCarthy.
The House of Representatives will meet today, Jan. 5, to continue trying to elect the speaker of the lower house of Congress for the third most important post in American politics.

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