>
It’s Groundhog Day on Capitol Hill as House Republicans sadly failed for a second day on Wednesday attempting to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House in what is turning out to be political chaos as beginning of the new majority.
For the sixth time, top Republicans nominated McCarthy as their speaker as the House descended into deeper disarray.
The House relented at noon, and a McCarthy ally quickly renominated him for the job with a rousing speech designed to unleash detractors.
“Sure, it looks messy,” said Wisconsin Rep. Mike Gallagher. But democracy is messy, he said. “The American people are in charge.”
But right now, no one seems to be in charge, except for hardline Republicans who continue to boost the California Republican’s chances of becoming the 118th president.
DailyMail.com answers six key questions about the race for the Spokesperson job, which seems to have no end in sight.
WHY IS THE HOUSE STILL NOT ELECTING A NEW SPOKESMAN?
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Republican leader perhaps in name only, needs 218 votes in the full House.
However, a consortium of 19 ultra-conservative Republicans, calling themselves the ‘Never Kevin Caucus,’ have been warning the California Republican he didn’t have the votes.
Two days and five speaker votes later, the House is no closer to a speaker than it was on Tuesday.
House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California has lost multiple votes for House speaker since Tuesday.
WHAT DOES THE ‘NEVER KEVIN CAUCUS’ WANT?
Most are members of the House Freedom Caucus, a far-right group that also had strained relations with former House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan.
They can’t tell you what they’re for. They can tell you everything they are against. They are anarchists. They want total chaos. Destroy everything and start over. That’s where his mentality is,” Boehner once told Vanity Fair.
The ‘Never Kevin Caucus’ includes representatives Andy Biggs from Arizona, Scott Perry from Pennsylvania, Lauren Boebert from Colorado, Matt Gaetz from Florida, Chip Roy from Texas, among others. The rebels presented McCarthy with their final offer on Monday: high-profile committee assignments, sizable budgets to investigate the Biden administration and the ability for any lawmaker to force a vote on whether to remove the future president in exchange for their votes.
McCarthy refused to oblige, saying he had gone far enough to appease lawmakers.
Based on the last six votes, it now looks like the NK just want him out; in short, anyone BUT McCarthy.
US Representative-elect Lauren Boebert of Colorado wants former President Donald Trump to withdraw his support for McCarthy.
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR THE LOWER CHAMBER?
Without a speaker, the Chamber, simply put, cannot function. It needs a leader who will swear in 75 new members, appoint committee chairs, decide on floor procedures and initiate oversight investigations. Everything will be delayed until a speaker is chosen and takes office.
“The spotlight needs to be put on these 19, now 20, who are stopping the business of Congress that we were elected to do,” said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Nebraska. ‘It’s in them.’
Representative-elect George Santos of New York (right) speaks with Representative-elect Matt Gaetz (R-FL) (left) in the House of Representatives during the second day of the Speaker of the House election at the U.S. Capitol. on January 04, 2023 in Washington, DC
WHAT ARE MCCARTHY’S OPTIONS?
The embattled leader of the Republican Party has two options: continue to “fight the ground” or resign.
McCarthy’s supporters, who account for the majority of the vote, vow to vote for him.
Representative-elect Michael Lawler in New York says he is supporting Kevin McCarthy “whether it’s the first vote, the second vote, the third vote or the 100th vote” during an interview on Meet the Press.
Detractors, however, want the battle for control of the House to end, the sooner the better.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, a fiery conservative from Colorado, nominated Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., the protest candidate of the day pick, and asked former President Donald Trump, the hero of the conservatives, to tell McCarthy: ‘Mr. , you don’t have the votes and it’s time to retire.’
What separates McCarthy between the nominee and the second in line for president is a handful of votes and there is no indication that he will stop until he gets the vote.
If there is a full House, you would need 218 votes but there is a technicality that could benefit your campaign.
He could win 213 votes and then persuade the remaining detractors to simply vote present, thus lowering the rule-required threshold for a majority.
It’s a strategy used by former House speakers, including outgoing Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Republican Speaker John Boehner when they faced off against the opposition and won the deck with fewer than 218 votes.
One Republican, Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana, voted present in the fourth and fifth rounds, but it made no difference to the immediate outcome.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
To date, a solution seems out of reach on all sides, and a century has passed since the latter happened. It’s unclear if and when McCarthy crosses the threshold to become the next House speaker. The current number of Republicans who have pledged support for other candidates stands at 20, and some suspect the list will grow.
On Tuesday, anti-McCarthy Republicans nominated many other candidates, including Biggs, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and even former Rep. Lee Zeldin of New York. And on Wednesday, the first black Republican was nominated for the job, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida.
The candidate for president needs a majority of the votes of the members of the House present and voting. Each legislator who votes ‘present’ reduces the overall tally needed to reach a majority, but that is not a winning solution.
Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida was nominated for Speaker of the House three times Wednesday as an alternative to McCarthy.
HAS THIS HAPPENED BEFORE?
The last time the House did not elect a speaker on the first ballot was in 1923, when the election lasted for nine ballots.
By this time, the Republicans had won a majority despite losing a staggering 77 seats, cutting their margin over the Democrats from 171 to just 18. The majority party had nominated incumbent Rep. Frederick Gillett, R-Massachusetts. but several other candidates, including a Democrat, received votes during roll call.
This resulted in a series of votes over three days before House Majority Leader Nicholas Longworth, R-Ohio, held an emergency meeting with opponents. His concerns, similar to those issued against McCarthy, concerned a number of rule changes that they believed deserved a fair hearing. Longworth complied, and the next day Gillett got the 215 votes he needed to remain president.
Members speak in the House chamber as the House meets for a second day to elect a speaker and convene the 118th Congress in Washington, Wednesday, January 4, 2023.