They say the fifteenth khbrknews’s the charm. After four long and humiliating days of House Republicans failing to elect a Speaker, Rep. Kevin McCarthy finally got the votes he needed to seal the deal, ending a historic standoff that resulted in him becoming the 55th person to lead the lower chamber.
Shortly after midnight Saturday, on the fifteen round of voting, the California lawmaker clinched the Speakership when enough of his detractors finally reversed course after holding the House hostage to their McCarthy antagonism all week. But that was not without a spectacle that seemed more befitting a television drama than an official government proceeding.
Leading up to the fourteenth ballot slated for 10 p.m. on Thursday, McCarthy and his allies were ready to pop the champagne. Both parties’ leaders were telling their caucuses to be prepared to stay until the wee hours of the morning. They were preparing to complete the arduous process of electing a Speaker, swearing in members, and passing a heavily negotiated rules package that was central to McCarthy’s agreement with his defactors, many of whom agreed to vote “present” rather than for another Republican to allow the debacle to end.
But as the votes came in, with the voting clerk calling on members alphabetically, it became clear that such an outcome was not in the immediate offing. One of the McCarthy holdouts, Rep. Matt Rosendale of Montana, voted for Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, leaving the outcome in the hands of perhaps the loudest McCarthy critic, Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who missed his initial chance to vote, setting the scene for him to cast the decisive ballot at the end of the process. When it came to his turn, he voted “present,” leaving McCarthy a half-vote shy of a majority.
An intense scene on the House floor followed as McCarthy and his allies huddled with a…
