After days of rancor on the Republican side of the aisle, Kevin McCarthy has now been elected as the next Speaker of the House of Representatives after 15 rounds of votes.
The final stretch was no less chaotic than the preceding days. After adjourning earlier in the day, the members-elect met in the House once again at 10:00 o’clock in the evening to finally wrap up the Speaker’s election with a 14th vote, or so they believed by all appearances.
After 15 ballots, we will have a new Speaker of the House.
McCarthy: 216
Jeffries: 212
Others: 0
Present: 6 pic.twitter.com/9OrdKC3wVS— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) January 7, 2023
It seemed clear when Colorado’s Lauren Boebert voted ‘present’ near the beginning of the roll call that an agreement had likely been made to end the fight and concede the Speakership to Kevin McCarthy. Matt Gaetz was conspicuously absent during the first roll call vote. It appeared as if he would cast the deciding vote in the second roll call, allowing McCarthy to win.
Gaetz did, indeed, vote ‘present’ and McCarthy reached 216 votes … which was not the 217 votes needed for a majority, even though it seemed they all were somehow expecting the vote would end in the election of McCarthy. A moment of chaos ensued on the House floor. Representatives struggled to contain their frustration.
Kevin McCarthy confronts Matt Gaetz during 14th House Speaker vote. #118thCongress pic.twitter.com/nMa9bm0KSN
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 7, 2023
Some dude even got pulled away from Gaetz, his mouth being covered by another. LOL.
Scenes from the 14th Round of voting for House Speaker pic.twitter.com/bqEl8Wi4vb
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) January 7, 2023
They quickly called to adjourn for the day and resume business, with no Speaker, on the following Monday. As the vote proceeded, members milled around the floor in conversation. Something changed. GOP members began voting against their own motion to adjourn.
There would be a 15th vote.
During vote to adjourn Matt Gaetz talks to Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy changes his vote to adjourn.
Appears a 15th vote for speaker will take place shortly.
WATCH LIVE on C-SPAN https://t.co/ilQQvA1GLA #118thCongress pic.twitter.com/e7JzJwDOaN
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 7, 2023
What a fitting end to a wild week. During the 15th and final vote, the remaining anti-McCarthy contingent all voted ‘present’ in a final show of defiance but a willingness to end their fight. This act lowered the needed majority threshold to 215 votes, and McCarthy again received 216, making him the 55th Speaker of the House.
Twitter was full of opinions on this final day of the Speaker struggle session.
Day whatever of this house speaker fiasco and my position remains the same pic.twitter.com/erCCW1ryb7
— Oilfield Rando (@Oilfield_Rando) January 7, 2023
We feel you, bro.
Shorter Hakeem Jeffries: "Sorry, e'rbody: Nancy's too hammered to pass the Gavel to Kevin McCarthy."
— Adam Baldwin (@AdamBaldwin) January 7, 2023
Abortion shout-out from election denier Jeffries as we await the Speaker…
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) January 7, 2023
Just to make a long day even longer, Hakeem Jeffries gave a ridiculously long, insultingly partisan speech before McCarthy could finally claim the gavel.
AOC Asks Why We Need A House Speaker Since Everyone Already Has Headphones https://t.co/n4EZwEYal0
— The Babylon Bee (@TheBabylonBee) January 6, 2023
LOLOLOL!
Thank God, no more @SpeakerPelosi! 👏🏻🎈💃🏼#SpeakerVote #HouseSpeaker #Speakerofthehouse
— Alana Stewart (@AlanaKStewart) January 7, 2023
YES!
Which one is Speaker? pic.twitter.com/E8YLDHKrx0
— Eric Swalwell (@ericswalwell) January 7, 2023
Look, we know a lot of people on the right wanted McCarthy and a lot of people didn’t.
One thing we can all agree on is that Democrats are mad and that is glorious. LOL.
If only spending bills caused as much stress and debate… and took as much time as this Speaker election.
— Tim Young (@TimRunsHisMouth) January 7, 2023
Ouch. That is painfully accurate.
How can you watch this Hakeem Jeffries speech and not think he should be the Speaker of the House?
— Jack Cocchiarella (@JDCocchiarella) January 7, 2023
It was quite easy.
"With the Speakership settled, the House can finally get back to the important business of borrowing several trillions of dollars for unnecessary projects." https://t.co/AfuYGXq03d
— Jon Gabriel (@exjon) January 7, 2023
Crap. He’s right.
Thoughts and prayers in this difficult time https://t.co/6eTW33D3Mx
— jimtreacher.substack.com (@jtLOL) January 7, 2023
LOL!
And the night goes by so very slow
Oh I hope that it won’t end though
Alone pic.twitter.com/ckQYfYaprR— Anna James Zeigler (@ajzeigler) January 7, 2023
At least y’all are keeping your sense of humor.
Will the battle have been worth the effort? Many who switched their votes cited the negotiations they had with the McCarthy side. Time will tell if the resulting changes materialize in the rules and whether McCarthy effectively leads the majority against the real threat here: the agenda of the radical leftists who run the Democratic Party.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy swears in the members of the #118thCongress. pic.twitter.com/sWltMPQ9LN
— CSPAN (@cspan) January 7, 2023
We have a Congress, folks. Let’s see what they do.
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