Republicans gear up for long speaker battle after candidates make their cases: Recap

Table Of Content

• January 5, 2023 GOP deadlocked over House speaker vote
• These are the Republican holdouts who flipped to McCarthy
• McCarthy telling Republicans not to nominate him for speaker again
• McCarthy appears to suffer defeat in 9th speaker ballot
• Flag fracas: Republicans ‘infuriated’ by show of support for Ukraine
• Republicans gear up for long speaker battle after candidates make their cases: Recap

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who's running in the GOP presidential primaries, seemingly endorsed Jordan this afternoon in an interview with Howie Carr. She referred to her shirt as her "scarlet letter," a reference to the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel in which a young woman is ostracized from her community and forced to wear a red A on her clothes, branding her as an adulterer. Mace has been criticized by many in her conference for her vote to oust McCarthy, as well as her media appearances and fundraising appeals after her vote. But that also means that in addition to Jordan and Scalise, no other candidates seem to have tossed their hats into the ring. Rep. George Santos said he had "no comment" when asked about a new superseding indictment filed in his federal case that added 23 new charges, including identity theft.

January 5, 2023 GOP deadlocked over House speaker vote

Despite all the chaos, conservative Republicans say they have no concern that some in their party may team up with Democrats to elect a speaker. At least one House Republican is more than just a no on Jordan as a potential nominee for speaker. Jordan dodged questions tonight about whether he plans to launch another bid for speaker. Asked how many more ballots it could take to get there, McHenry shrugged.

These are the Republican holdouts who flipped to McCarthy

Several House Republicans have said they’re not ready to get behind him and he can only afford to lose four of them. “I personally cannot, in good conscience, vote for someone who attended a white supremacist conference and compared himself to David Duke,” she said in an interview on CNN. "I will no longer be voting for Scalise, and we NEED to stay in Washington until this is figured out," she wrote on X. "Right now there is no consensus candidate for the Speaker and I don’t think we will make it to the floor."

McCarthy telling Republicans not to nominate him for speaker again

Just like yesterday’s closed-door elections, Republicans had to check their cellphones at the door for this private meeting to limit leaks to reporters. Leaving the meeting before it ended, Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., openly fretted that his party’s narrow majority may never find the 217 votes necessary to elect a speaker. Jordan's name has been floated as a possible replacement for Scalise, Rep. Dan Mauser of Pennsylvania said.

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With no deal with Gaetz in sight, Rep. Patrick McHenry moved to adjourn the House until noon on Monday. House Republicans appeared to secure enough votes to adjourn in a recorded vote. "Jill and I congratulate Kevin McCarthy on his election as Speaker of the House," Mr. Biden said. He said the Capitol will now be "fully open" to all Americans, so they can witness what happens in the people's house. COVID restrictions have limited visitors, and the Capitol assault two years ago resulted in tighter security measures. He said the very first bill Republicans will bring to the floor would repeal the funding for 87,000 additional IRS workers under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Nominating speeches for each candidate

Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, elected to Congress in 2016, is an attorney and a former radio host. "We're looking at a lot of people, and you know I'm sort of trying to stay out of it as much as possible," Trump said. Emmer remained the top vote-getter, with 107 votes, according to McMorris Rodgers, followed by Johnson with 56 votes. Johnson said Emmer is "putting on a master class in there, about how to stand in the fire, answer questions in front of a room of 200, frankly, very opinionated members, and I think he's winning converts." "We are going to finish this tonight," and will meet "for as long as it takes," Johnson said. Emmer and his allies have been trying to win over a couple dozen GOP holdouts.

McCarthy appears to suffer defeat in 9th speaker ballot

A meeting of a several of the McCarthy GOP holdouts in Republican Whip Tom Emmer's office concluded late Thursday night, and it remains unclear whether McCarthy has won any of their votes yet. Rep. Ken Buck, Republican of Colorado, missed the ninth round of voting for speaker Thursday because of a "non-emergency medical procedure" he had to undergo in Colorado, according to his office. He is expected miss any speaker votes during the day but plans to return to Washington Friday evening. "You'll see some people who have been voting against me voting for me," he told reporters.

Texas Reps. Jodey Arrington, Pete Sessions and Roger Williams are making moves to become U.S. House speaker - The Texas Tribune

Texas Reps. Jodey Arrington, Pete Sessions and Roger Williams are making moves to become U.S. House speaker.

Posted: Fri, 20 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Flag fracas: Republicans ‘infuriated’ by show of support for Ukraine

The spokesperson said he could not provide an estimate on how many people were detained. Other Democrats pointed out that symbols of foreign nations, especially American allies, can be seen throughout the Capitol. Democratic Rep. Seth Magaziner of Rhode Island, who helped distribute the Ukrainian flags on the floor over the weekend, cited the portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette that hangs in the House chamber. There’s a bust of Winston Churchill in the building, and many members, including Cammack, have hung the Israeli flag outside their House offices since the war with Hamas broke out last year, Magaziner noted. Because of the intraparty divisions, Democratic support would likely be needed to approve the measure.

Rep. Steve Scalise, House Majority leader and candidate for speaker, told reporters after a marathon two-hour conference meeting tonight that the GOP needs to get back to work and choose a speaker quickly. Some members expressed optimism there could be a new House speaker by tomorrow night, while others said they fear no candidate can get the 217 floor votes needed to win the gavel. Republican Rep. Dave Joyce of Ohio has been leading the charge over the effort. He was expected force a floor vote on a resolution as early as today but held off.

McCarthy still had 20 total GOP lawmakers voting against him, and GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz voted present again. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries had the unanimous support of his caucus. Hakeem Jeffries of New York was unanimously nominated by the House Democratic Caucus on October 10. Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana was initially nominated by the House Republican Conference on October 11, but he withdrew from the race the next day. Jim Jordan of Ohio was nominated on a second internal Republican conference vote on October 13. "It gives benefit to Jim Jordan. Even though I’ve supported Jim Jordan, it’s not fair in my view to do that and then give him more time because the other candidates haven’t had that time," Lesko said.

Lesko, who announced earlier this week that she is retiring at the end of this Congress, said there was "a lot of tension between the members" at the closed-door meeting of the House GOP conference earlier today. But Jordan wouldn't answer any other questions about the fate of his candidacy or if there would be another speaker floor vote tonight. "The rules are the rules, and practice and custom in our conference has always been make your case, get a majority of the majority, become the nominee. ... That's the way it should be. And I would hope that's the way it will be this week," Womack said. Rep. Matt Rosendale, one of the eight Republicans who voted to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker, said he doesn’t regret his vote and that “a lot of progress” was made in tonight’s closed-door meeting to find someone to fill the empty seat. Buck has consistently voted for McCarthy but said earlier this week on CNN that he told McCarthy to either make a deal with the holdouts or else step aside for a different member, like House Republican Whip Steve Scalise.