McCarthy tries to break rebel impasse as allies grow weary of speaker stalemate
David Sivak
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Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) enters a pivotal fourth day hopeful he can break the impasse and prove to wavering allies that he can take the speaker’s gavel.
Nineteen Republican holdouts blocked McCarthy’s bid on Thursday as the stalemate headed to an 11th ballot, with no candidate receiving the 218 votes required to become speaker. However, despite the setback, McCarthy managed to keep his “yes” votes in line despite patience wearing thin among allies.
MCCARTHY SAYS CONCESSIONS TO HARD-LINE REPUBLICANS WON’T MAKE HIM ‘WEAKER SPEAKER’
McCarthy left the Capitol upbeat on Thursday night after allies put a deal on paper that a number of holdouts considered a step in the right direction. “I feel good today, really,” McCarthy told reporters. “I felt — I felt very positive yesterday. I feel more positive today. I think we had really good discussions.”
Asked about the stalemate, McCarthy argued he had defied expectations Thursday by keeping further defections at bay. “Have you seen any drop?” he asked veteran reporter John Bresnahan, who countered that the GOP leader had yet to win over any holdouts either.
“But you would have thought, would you not have?” McCarthy responded.
The math for McCarthy is daunting, as he can only afford to lose four votes in a chamber the Republicans narrowly control. The GOP leader has agreed to a steep set of demands from the Republican hard-liners that would diminish his power as speaker and empower members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
The California Republican’s allies plan to lay out the specifics of the agreement at a GOP conference call on Friday morning.
Even if the concessions move the needle for McCarthy, his fiercest critics were unimpressed Thursday. Enough GOP holdouts still fall in the “Never Kevin” camp to derail his bid, chief among them Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
The House will continue voting on Friday at noon after the Republican hard-liners forced ballot after ballot while negotiations continued on and off the floor Thursday, ultimately relenting so lawmakers could adjourn shortly after 8 p.m. The holdouts nominated everyone from Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, to former President Donald Trump for House speaker as their votes became more fractured on Thursday.
But McCarthy’s support held steady at 201 votes until Rep. Ken Buck (R) had to fly back to his home state of Colorado for a medical procedure, bringing the total down to 200. One other lawmaker, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, withdrew her support on the second day of ballots and has since been voting “present” to protest the lack of a GOP conference meeting the last couple of days.
Time is of the essence for McCarthy, who must shift votes to his column before his backers lose confidence in him. But he also must not alienate centrists by giving too many concessions away to the hard-liners in the GOP conference.
“Everybody’s involved” in the discussions, McCarthy said when asked about the prospect of turning off moderate Republicans. He declined to put a time limit on negotiations, telling reporters Thursday, “If this takes a little longer and it doesn’t meet your deadline, that’s OK.”
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Buck, who was mulling a vote against McCarthy before he left town, said on Wednesday that his colleagues were growing weary of the stalemate.
“I think what’s happening right now is people are getting worn down. They’re starting to get some conflict, open conflict, on the floor, as well as behind closed doors,” he said on CNN. “At some point, people have to realize that we’ve got to choose a speaker and move forward. The American people sent us here to get the work done.”