Day 2 of the House speaker election: What to expect
What was expected to be a day of triumph for House Republicans coming into the majority turned into chaos Tuesday as intraparty fighting over who should lead them in their new reign ended with no speaker at the rostrum.
GOP lawmakers Wednesday will try once again to elect a speaker despite uncertainty over how Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) could rebound after failing to overcome opposition from the right flank of his party and becoming the first House speaker nominee in 100 years to fail to win the gavel with his party in the majority.
What to know as the House heads into the second day of the speaker election:
Why is there no speaker?
Needing 218 votes in the full House, McCarthy received just 203 in the first two rounds of voting on the first day — fewer even than Democrat Hakeem Jeffries in the GOP-controlled chamber — and fared even worse with 202 in the third round.
A growing chorus of detractors had warned for months that McCarthy did not have the votes to win the constitutionally mandated office, which would make him second in line to the presidency. In response, McCarthy negotiated endlessly with fellow Republicans opposed to his candidacy.
The negotiations went on until Monday night, when members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus presented McCarthy with their final offer, which included demands for certain committee assignments in exchange for their votes.
Republican leader Kevin McCarthy surely could have seen defeat coming — the wave that swamped him has been building for years.
McCarthy refused to oblige, saying he had gone far enough to appease them.
“For the last two months, we worked together as a whole conference to develop rules that empower all members, but we’re not empowering certain members over others,” McCarthy told reporters early Tuesday.
As a result, those members and more than a dozen others openly opposed him on the floor.
What does that mean for the chamber?
Without a speaker, the House cannot fully form since that person serves as the chamber’s presiding officer and the institution’s administrative head.
Swearing in members, naming committee chairs, engaging in floor proceedings and launching oversight investigations will all be delayed until a speaker is elected and sworn into office.
“The spotlight needs to be put on these 19 — now 20 — that are stopping the business of Congress that we got elected to do,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) said. “It’s on them.”
Whether the next speaker is the oft-humiliated McCarthy or someone else, Republican control of the House has gotten off to a disastrous start, and things are likely to get worse.
How will it get resolved?
It remains unclear whether McCarthy will pass the vote threshold to become the next speaker of the House. The current number of Republicans who have pledged support to other candidates is at 20, with some suspecting that the list will grow.
The House is scheduled to begin another round of voting for speaker at noon Wednesday. Once the House is in a quorum — meaning the minimum number of members are present to proceed — the speaker nominee from each party will be read aloud by the respective leaders before a roll-call vote to elect a new speaker.
On Tuesday, Republicans opposing McCarthy nominated a slew of other candidates, including Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and even former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York.
“I rise to nominate the most talented, hardest-working member of the Republican conference, who just gave a speech with more vision that we have ever heard from the alternative,” Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida said Tuesday while nominating Jordan.
None of them reached a majority of the votes, but it was enough to diminish support for McCarthy, who in a 222-213 Republican House majority can’t afford to lose more than a handful of votes.
Should McCarthy come up short again on Wednesday, the clerk will repeat the roll call vote until he is able to garner a majority or a motion to adjourn is approved.
Washington state Democrat Patty Murray is the first woman to become president pro tempore of the Senate, which will put her third in line to the presidency.
Has this ever happened before?
The last time the House did not elect a speaker on the first ballot was 1923, when the election stretched to nine ballots.
At the time, Republicans had won the majority despite losing a staggering 77 seats, shrinking their margin over Democrats from 171 to just 18. The majority party had named incumbent Rep. Frederick Gillett (R-Mass.) to the position, but several other candidates, including a Democrat, received votes during the roll call.
This resulted in a series of ballots over three days before House Majority Leader Nicholas Longworth (R-Ohio) held an emergency meeting with those opposing. Their concern, similar to those issued against McCarthy, was over a series of rule changes that they believed deserved a fair hearing. Longworth obliged, and the next day Gillett garnered the 215 votes he needed to remain speaker.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
