After three rounds of voting on Tuesday, the day ended with no elected Speaker of the 118th Congress and a damaged Kevin McCarthy.
As the House heads into a second day of organizing and again attempts to settle the issue of who will run the lower chamber, here’s a look at what might happen.
The holdouts, which amounted to twenty Republican votes against McCarthy, don’t seem to be backing down from a desire to see someone else assume the top position of setting the agenda, crafting the new rules of the House, and working as a barrier against the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Watch Live – 118th Congress Day 2
Watch live as the 118th Congress convenes for a second day and the House attempts to elect a new Speaker:
The process is slated to start again at noon eastern time when the House comes to order:
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.
McCarthy, for his part, has vowed to stay in the game and believes he will eventually prevail. If that remains the case, these voting rounds could go on for days until one side relents. Perhaps the “Never Kevin” caucus is still waiting for some concessions on things like the rules committee and other areas where House members have been complaining that the regular order of how things should work went off the rails years ago.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s name continues to be tossed about as a potential alternative but Jordan himself already endorsed McCarthy. What’s clear is that without McCarthy choosing to step aside, most members will continue offering him their support.
As for what comes next, it could be Republicans that settle the issue intraparty but there’s always a chance that somehow Democrats get involved to move the show along:
Some Republicans say McCarthy should make a deal to persuade some Democrats to leave the floor after several ballots. Others, like Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), have floated that if conservatives block McCarthy, they could work with a band of centrist Democrats to elect a more moderate Republican instead.
For now, Democrats have no plans to intervene to help McCarthy or another Republican as their party flails. But there have been quiet conversations about what they could extract from the GOP if the speaker’s race did come to a breaking point. Some are even discussing plans for a possible power-sharing agreement — a scenario that several Republicans described as outlandish.
Why would Dems stop a GOP internal battle when they can sit back and watch comfortably from their minority side of the aisle? They’d be prone to keep this going on as long as possible as evidence, in their view, that Republicans can’t govern if they can’t even govern themselves.
For what it’s worth, former President Donald Trump once again offered his endorsement of McCarthy even after Tuesday’s failed votes:
On Truth Social this morning, former President Trump offers a strong endorsement of Kevin McCarthy. https://t.co/6sxVMgFB6h pic.twitter.com/gD8m2Yqn86
— Byron York (@ByronYork) January 4, 2023
Today’s drama kicks off again around noon eastern time when the House will be gaveled into session and the process of electing a new Speaker will begin again.
