GOP leader McCarthy loses eleventh ballot

WASHINGTON — U.S. House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., lost an eleventh vote for House speaker on Thursday, his latest defeat in what has already turn out to be the longest speaker balloting process since 1859.

Ahead of the vote, two members of the bloc of 20 Republican holdouts opposing McCarthy’s speakership formally nominated alternative candidates to McCarthy: The primary pick was GOP Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma, who leads the influential Republican Study Committee. The second nominee was former President Donald Trump, who was nominated by his longtime ally, Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Hern has consistently voted for McCarthy for speaker, but he has not said outright that he would reject the job if McCarthy withdraws his name.

The emergence of one other potential alternative to McCarthy was the most recent setback in a frustrating day for the longtime GOP leader.

Although the vote was still ongoing, McCarthy had already lost at the least five votes, which made it unattainable for him to secure the gavel on the eleventh vote. With 222 Republicans within the newly elected House, he could only afford to lose 4 of them to achieve the 218 needed to win the speakership.

Earlier within the day, McCarthy sounded optimistic about talks between his top lieutenants and a gaggle of around 20 GOP holdouts.

“I believe everyone within the conversation wants to search out an answer,” McCarthy said on his way into the House chamber for the day’s first vote.

But lower than two hours after votes began, one other influential McCarthy holdout, Rep. Scott Perry, Pa., posted an indignant tweet accusing McCarthy of leaking details of internal negotiations.

The continued absence of a speaker has left the House in disarray, largely as a consequence of the incontrovertible fact that rank-and-file members cannot be sworn into office until a speaker is elected and can’t arrange their local or Washington offices. This leaves all 434 members of the House technically still members-elect, not official voting representatives. 

Ahead of Thursday’s votes, Democratic Party leaders berated Republicans for the party’s dysfunction, and emphasized the harm that going days and not using a House speaker was inflicting on the legislative branch and the nation.

“We cannot organize our district offices, get our latest members doing that political work of our constituent services, helping serve the individuals who sent us here on their behalf,” incoming Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., told reporters within the Capitol Thursday morning. “Kevin McCarthy’s ego in his pursuit of the speakership in any respect costs is drowning out the voices and the needs of the American people.”

Democrats also emphasized that the absence of a speaker was threatening U.S. national security by keeping members of Congress from accessing classified intelligence that is out there to lawmakers only after they’ve taken the oath of office, which none of them can take and not using a speaker.

“At the tip of the day, all we’re asking Republicans to do is to determine a way for themselves to prepare so the Congress can get together and do the business of the American people,” Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said at a news conference with Clark.

Clark accused McCarthy of being “held hostage to his own ambitions.”

“That is about your responsibility to prepare government. It is prime to who we’re as members of Congress,” she said.

Democrats, meanwhile, have remained in lockstep throughout all of the votes, casting their 212 ballots for Jeffries.

This can be a developing story and will probably be updated throughout the day.