McCarthy promised to keep voting until the speaker appeared, but the proposal to postpone the meeting to just before 6 p.m. Tuesday met with few objections, ABC News reports. Many lawmakers have family and friends in Washington, DC, and it was unclear how far the nightly vote would go.
For the first time since 1923, speaker voting took place in multiple rounds. Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida Republican, said on social media that “rolling voting doesn’t work.” Donalds endorsed McCarthy through the first two rounds, but then voted for Ohio’s Rep. Jim Jordan. On Twitter (blocked in the Russian Federation), Donalds wrote that he didn’t think McCarthy would have enough support to eventually become a speaker.
In the third round of voting, 20 House Republicans voted against confirming McCarthy for the speaking position. McCarthy received 202 votes in the final round and for the third time behind Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffreys. The Democrats have already chosen Jeffreys as their faction leader in the new Congress. McCarthy needed 218 votes to be elected president, but was ultimately disappointed by members of his own party and voted for Jordan.
