‘We’ll have the votes’: Kevin McCarthy says he will be elected speaker tonight
Virginia Aabram
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House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is confident in his chances of becoming speaker of the House Friday night after the lower chamber voted to adjourn to allow several more hours of talks with the six remaining Republican holdouts.
McCarthy told reporters he’ll be able to convince at least two to back him and that he’s looking forward to stories calling him the “comeback kid” when he pulls it off. He made up major ground Friday, the fourth day of voting, when 14 of the original 20 members of his party blocking his path to the speakership came over to his side.
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“When we come back tonight, we’ll have the votes to get this done once and for all,” McCarthy said while exiting the House chamber Friday afternoon. “It just reminds me of what my father always told me: It’s not about how you start, it’s about how you finish.”
The House will reconvene at 10 p.m. Friday night. The six lawmakers who voted against him on the most recent ballot are Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Eli Crane (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Bob Good (R-VA), and Matt Rosendale (R-MT). Gaetz, Boebert, and Biggs have been the most vocal anti-McCarthy voices in the party for months, meaning he may focus his efforts on Good and Crane.
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The 14 who decided to support him did so after days of negotiations in which he agreed to most of their demands for how the House should operate under the new Republican majority. As McCarthy was working on a deal with them last night, he disagreed that his concession to allow a single member to force a vote to oust a sitting speaker would weaken his speakership, saying he “would only be a weaker speaker if I were afraid of it” and that he’s “very fine” with the possibility.
Democrats have unanimously voted for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) on every ballot. Friday marked the first time McCarthy gained a plurality of votes over Jeffries.