House speaker vote: McCarthy thanks Trump for final votes as fight nearly breaks out on floor
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Your support makes all the difference.Kevin McCarthy was finally elected speaker of the House of Representatives after 15 rounds of voting, clinching the gavel just after midnight on Saturday.
The longest contest for speaker of the House of Representatives in more than a century finally came to an end as six remaining Republican holdouts opted to vote “present”, giving Mr McCarthy a majority over Democrat Hakeem Jeffries.
Earlier, Republican House member Mike Rogers had to be physically restrained after lunging at Matt Gaetz amid chaotic scenes in the House.
Congressman Richard Hudson grabbed Mr Rogers by his face and physically pulled him away.
In his first speech as speaker, Mr McCarthy thanked former president Donald Trump for “helping get those final votes”.
Mr McCarthy’s bid had been delayed by a group of far-right Republicans including the likes of Lauren Boebert and Mr Gaetz.
However, on Friday he made significant progress in the 12th ballot, managing to flip a total of 14 representatives-elect in his favour after lengthy negotiations.
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Shock scenes as Republican held back in confrontation with Matt Gaetz during Speaker vote
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Where do things stand now?
While we wait for the official result from the House clerks, Rebecca Kaplan of CBS has an unofficial tally as to what Kevin McCarthy must do next.
If Ken Buck returns and votes in favour of Mr McCarthy, then he only needs to flip one more holdout to reach the new majority of 216 votes.
He could also win by flipping three of the holdouts or convincing some of them to vote “present”.
McCarthy flips 14 votes as he charts ‘progress’ in 12th failed bid for House Speaker
Two years after a mob stormed the halls of Congress in a violent push to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, Kevin McCarthy walked into the Capitol on Friday morning pledging “progress” with his repeatedly failing attempts to secure enough votes to become speaker of the House.
“We’re going to make progress,” he told reporters. “We’re going to shock you.”
Fourteen Republican members who previously did not support the House Republican leader’s attempts to be named House Speaker flipped their vote on 6 January, but the 12th round of votes fell just short of the number Mr McCarthy needs to secure the gavel.
Here’s Alex Woodward’s latest report:
McCarthy flips 14 votes as he charts ‘progress’ in 12th failed bid for speaker
House GOP leader says ‘we’re going to shock you’ as he inches closer to votes for speakership
Comer nominates McCarthy for thirteenth round of voting
Rep James Comer nominates Kevin McCarthy for the thirteenth round of voting.
Ballot thirteen underway
The thirteenth vote for Speaker of the House is underway.
There were no further nominations after the party conferences’ two picks of McCarthy and Jeffries.
Nevertheless, Lauren Boebert and ANdy Biggs have voted for Jim Jordan.
Andy Harris flips to McCarthy
Rep Andy Harris of Maryland has flipped his vote to Kevin McCarthy.
He is the 15th member today to switch their vote to McCarthy (including Victoria Spartz who voted present before).
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