Kevin McCarthy is certain to lose in the fourth round of voting to become Speaker of the House, after an eleventh-hour intervention by Donald Trump failed to end the impasse.
At least 11 Republicans voted against McCarthy in the fourth round of voting on Saturday afternoon, making it mathematically impossible for him to secure the votes needed to seize the gavel in the fourth ballot assuming no lawmakers switch allegiances.
The rebels supported Byron Donalds of Florida after he was nominated by Chip Roy, a Republican congressman from Texas.
The legislation came even as Trump sought to unite the party behind McCarthy, posting on the Truth Social platform: “Now is the time for all GREAT Republican House members to VOTE KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, GET THE VICTORY.”
McCarthy made history on Tuesday when he became the first majority party leader to lose the first ballot in a century.
McCarthy also failed to clinch the simple majority needed in the second and third ballots on Tuesday, before the House adjourned and allies scrambled to win over 20 members of parliament who have opposed the effort to take Gimbal Speaker.
Joe Biden, the Democratic US president, on Wednesday morning called the House process “a bit embarrassing”, adding: “What do you think about this in the whole world?”
“It’s not a good look, it’s not a good thing,” Biden told reporters at the White House. “This is the United States, and I hope we can get our act together.”
McCarthy’s opponents have come from various factions of the party, and include Trump loyalists such as Florida’s Matt Gaetz and Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, as well as ultraconservatives such as Texas’ Chip Roy and Pennsylvania’s Scott Perry, who are pushing for changes to the rules that would create. easier to call a vote of no confidence in the future Speaker.
Tuesday’s botched election led to historic gridlock in Washington, as the House is constitutionally required to elect a Speaker and cannot begin governing until one is selected.
The stalemate has also underscored long-simmering tensions in the Republican party, which remains fractured after its disappointing performance in last November’s midterm elections. Despite the expectations of the “red wave”, Republicans eked out a razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives, the lower house of Congress, and failed to take back control of the Senate, the upper house.
Many Republicans in Washington blamed the failure on Trump, who played a key role in the primary process by pushing for his preferred candidates — many of whom later failed at the ballot box. However, Trump is trying to reassert himself as the king of the party, mainly focusing on the 2024 presidential contest. The former president launched his third presidential bid just days after the midterms, and so far no other candidate has entered the ring to challenge him.
“Kevin McCarthy is going to do a great job, and maybe a great JOB – WATCH IT!” Trump posted on Wednesday morning.
Trump’s support for McCarthy marks the latest chapter in the rollercoaster relationship between the two men. For years, Trump often referred to the congressman as “my Kevin.” But McCarthy reportedly said “I’ve seen this guy before” after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol, before smiling in a photo with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago resort just weeks later.