Kevin McCarthy again falls short in second round of voting for House speaker – live

Representative Byron Donalds, a Republican of Florida, has become the first McCarthy supporter to switch his vote from McCarthy to Jordan.

The vote got a few claps in the chamber.

Hi there, is Maanvi Singh, reporting from West Coast.

It seems Kevin McCarthy is on the verge of losing for the third time today, after five Republicans so far voted in support of Jim Jordan.

Democrats, meanwhile, have remained united in voting for Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries.

Hello again, US politics blog readers, the drama in Washington is far from over as the election for House Speaker is still inconclusive.

Republican Kevin McCarthy is suffering a humiliating drubbing at the hands of his supposed fellows, as right-wing rebels turn the first day of GOP control of the House in the new Congress into a crisis for the party.

We are about to witness the third round of voting. Louisiana’s Steve Scalise just rose to his feet to nominate McCarthy for speaker.

My colleague in California, Maanvi Singh, will take the helm of this blog now and we’ll continue to bring you the developments as they happen.

Here’s where things stand:

• As we head for an excruciating third round of voting in the election for House Speaker, there is no sign of California Republican Kevin McCarthy, who has long aspired to step into the role, gaining a majority of the votes.

• Kevin McCarthy suffers defeat in second round of voting in House speaker election. It’s an epic loss for McCarthy and warring House Republicans. The second round of voting – which has not happened in a century – ended with McCarthy nowhere near a majority.

• Right-winger Jim Jordan of Ohio, who is a McCarthy supporter but was nominated by anti-McCarthy rebel Matt Gaetz to disrupt everything, already took 19 votes in the second round of voting in the election for House speaker.

• The first round of voting delivered a humiliating defeat for Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become House speaker. He just made history in the worst way. The first person in a century to lose the vote for speaker in the first round.

• After the roll call vote in the first round, Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries had 212 votes, McCarthy had just 203, Republican strategic thorn Andy Biggs (nominated by rightwing rebel Paul Gosar) had 10 votes and nine lawmakers supported none of the three hats in the ring.

• All the new members of Congress elected in the midterm elections in November will arrive on Capitol Hill today, many with family in tow, waiting to be sworn in to the brand new 118th Congress. There will be exuberant scenes but the House speaker vote comes first.

• House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy faces historic struggle to clinch speakership, with a battle royale on Capital Hill.

Is Kevin McCarthy’s bid to be House speaker doomed? As we head for an excruciating third round of voting in the election for speaker, there is no sign of the California Republican, who has long aspired to step into the role, gaining a majority of the votes.

Some speculate that if this goes on, McCarthy could step aside and nominate prominent Louisiana congressman Steve Scalise to be speaker in his stead.

Any idea of Ohio rightwinger Jim Jordan leapfrogging into the seat and grasping the gavel seems far-fetched.

And…

It’s surreal.

Steve Scalise is also a stalwart of the right wing known for hanging around with white supremacists and Klan types.

Scalise was badly wounded in a mass shooting targeting members of Congress at a baseball practice in 2017.

It’s an epic defeat for Kevin McCarthy and warring House Republicans. The second round of voting – which has not happened in a century – is over and California Republican McCarthy is still nowhere near a majority.

The clerk of the House, Cheryl Johnson, will announce the official tally shortly, but the pen-and-paper watchers have Democrat Hakeem Jeffries on 212 votes, McCarthy on 203, the same desultory number he got in the first round, and fellow-Republican Jim Jordan on 19 votes.

Once again it is unclear what will happen next, the chamber is still in session and, unless McCarthy drops out, we have a third round of voting pending. If Democrats could leave the chamber they’d probably pop to the proverbial popcorn cart and settle in for the rest of the spectacle.

The humiliations for Kevin McCarthy just keep coming. Right-winger Jim Jordan of Ohio, who is a McCarthy supporter but was nominated by anti-McCarthy rebel Matt Gaetz to disrupt everything, already has 19 votes in the election for House speaker.

Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader, is also ahead of McCarthy, with 196 votes compared with McCarthy’s 183. Jeffries won’t be able to get a majority, with Republicans controlling the House, but he is playing a big part in the epic embarrassment for McCarthy.

We’re up to the Ws already in the roll call vote, so McCarthy’s second go around of twisting on a skewer is about to wrap up.

McCarthy is doing his best to keep a fixed smile on his face in the chamber, but the giveaway is his left hand reflexively tapping his leg with nerves.

The last time the vote went to multiple ballots was in 1923, when a small bloc of Republicans refused to reelect Rep. Frederick Gillett (R-Mass.) as speaker. (The rebels were part of the party’s progressive faction, in contrast to the conservatives threatening to block McCarthy’s rise today, but like their modern counterparts, they were pressing for changes to House rules), the Washington Post reports today.

The Washington Post continues:

“So powerful and determined was the grip of the insurgents that after the fourth ballot Nicholas Longworth, the Republican floor leader, moved an adjournment until tomorrow, when the struggle will be resumed,” the New York Times reported at the time.

Gillett did not prevail until the ninth ballot, two days after voting began. He was elected with 215 votes, the lowest total of any speaker since the House reached its modern size. (Others have come close, though: Pelosi prevailed with 216 votes in 2021, as did Boehner in 2015.)

Older fights over the speakership dragged on even longer, such as the 1855 deadlock that ended with the election of Representative Nathaniel Banks as speaker. It took 133 ballots. “This will not take that [long],” former House speaker Newt Gingrich told The Early last month.

The second round of voting for the speakership has begun. There was no recess between votes, only frantic minutes of huddling horse-trading on the floor.

This has not happened in century. All other speakers have managed to get elected on one round of voting.

Arizona rightwinger Andy Biggs, who was nominated in the first round as a spoiler and got 10 votes, just voted for Jim Jordan, the Ohio rightwinger who’s just been nominated by Florida rebel Matt Gaetz as a spoiler against McCarthy in this round.

Freedom caucus extremist Lauren Boebert just voted for Jordan, too.

Here’s Axe:

Ohio right-winger Jim Jordan has just re-nominated Kevin McCarthy to become House Speaker.

Jordan said: “We need to rally around him.” He then quoted the Bible, calling on the caucus to “keep the faith” and unify around McCarthy.

It’s a crisis for the Republicans in the House, no doubt about it.

California Democrat Pete Aguilar is now once again nominating Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries as that party’s choice for speaker.

Freedom caucus and right-wing rebel Matt Gaetz of Florida has now risen. he’s nominating Jim Jordan to become speaker. We’re definitely in sitcom territory now, other than this is about one of the highest offices in the land and third in line to the presidency.

Wry smiling from McCarthy, who’s sitting feet from Gaetz. In the first round, Arizona congressman Paul Gosar nominated Andy Biggs. He’s not being nominated this time around. The reading clerk is now going to call the roll and voting will begin.

House clerk Cheryl Johnson is now formally reporting the vote in the first round for House Speaker, where Kevin McCarthy slumped to a humiliating defeat.

Johnson confirms that Democratic minority leader Hakeem Jeffries received 212 votes. McCarthy received 203 votes. Rightwinger Andy Biggs of Arizona received 10 votes. Rightwinger Jim Jordan, who was not formally nominated, received six votes.

There were 434 votes vast. Republicans hold 222 seats and should have been able to reach a majority behind one nominee – but civil war prevails.

Johnson announced: “No person, having received a majority of the whole number of votes cast … as speaker has not been elected.”

She notes that for the first time since 1923, the voting will now go to a second round.

Astonishingly, because it is the first day of the new Congress, the floor of the House of Representatives is not just full of representatives, there is a smattering of children, babies, even, miniature adults in suits and a variety of family members.

They’re there to see their relatives sworn in for the 118th Congress. There are many freshman members who won their races in the midterm elections in November and are now waiting to take their seats.

On the first day of a new congress, new members bring family along. What these folk are now witnessing is an historic mess as Republican civil war in the House produces a scene of chaos.

No-one is being sworn in until the House has a Speaker, which it is currently missing, the Speaker’s seat sitting vividly unoccupied, the gavel silent.

Right-winger and conspiracy theory-fan Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia is huddling with Kevin McCarthy right now, after he just lost the first round of voting to elect the House Speaker.

She voted for him, unlike other right-wing rebels such as Lauren Boebert, Matt Gaetz, Paul Gosar and Scott Perry.

Jim Jordan, who backs McCarthy, is trying to swing support behind McCarthy now, doing the rounds on the floor.

Much huddling and milling about on the floor of the House of Representatives before the chamber is expected to proceed to an historic second round of voting for the election of House speaker.

California Republican Kevin McCarthy just spectacularly failed to win a majority of House votes to become speaker in the first round. The House currently has no speaker. The chamber is not in recess, it’s still in session. It’s not entirely clear what will happen in the moments between now and the next round of voting.

McCarthy has been handed his pride on a plate by a knot of right-wing rebels in his own party who refused to vote for him, who he has failed to win over despite intense days and, indeed, weeks of negotiating.

Six lawmakers voted for representative Jim Jordan, even though he was nor formally on the ballot. Will Jordan try to get those people to switch to McCarthy? That still won’t give McCarthy the requisite 218-vote majority he needs.

McCarthy can be seen laughing loudly as he talks to allies on the floor. One wonders what he is feeling inside.

The first round of voting is over and it’s a humiliating defeat for California Republican Kevin McCarthy’s bid to become House speaker.

He just made history in the worst way. The first person in a century to lose the vote for speaker in the first round.

After the roll call, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries had 212 votes, McCarthy had just 203, Republican strategic thorn Andy Biggs (nominated by rightwing rebel Paul Gosar) had 10 votes and nine lawmakers supported none of the three hats in the ring.

McCarthy needed 218 votes to be elected speaker and he technically could have garnered that many based on Republican numbers, but failed spectacularly.

This immediately plunges House Republicans into crisis on their first day in control of the House after the midterm elections.

We’re coming up on the end of the alphabet and not only is Kevin McCarthy far short of winning a majority in the election for House Speaker, he’s behind Democratic minority leader HakeemJeffries in the voting.

This is a disaster for Republicans on their first day supposedly in control of the House of Representatives.

They can’t recess without the clerk of the House, Cheryl Johnson, agreeing to a vote, it seems, so the Democrats might just keep everyone on the floor and force the second round of voting to proceed with McCarthy having any chance to twist more arms on his side.