January 05, 2023 12:10 PM UTC

McCarthy Fails on Ballot #11; Congress Inches Toward Record

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE #10: McCarthy failed yet again in an 11th round of voting. House members then agreed to recess until Noon EST on Friday.

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UPDATE #9: Kevin McCarthy finished the 10th round of voting in pretty much the same position as he started. Republicans are talking about trying to recess until Tuesday, though Democrats are pushing back (as they should). Every day of this debacle is another lost day where the Legislative Branch of the government isn’t functioning.

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UPDATE #8: Make it an even 10!

Arizona Republican Rep-Elect Juan Ciscomani nominates Kevin McCarthy for House Speaker. For the 10th time.

This is now the longest Speaker’s race since 1859.

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UPDATE #7: Nine rounds of voting have now concluded. Still no Speaker.

House on 9th ballot now. McCarthy won’t get to 218. When it gets to 10th ballot, this will be the longest speaker’s race since 1859 when it went to 44 ballots https://t.co/w1wXKVMCxY

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) January 5, 2023

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UPDATE #6: Round 9? Round 9.

Republican Rep-elect Troy Nehls just nominated Kevin McCarthy (Round 9) and concluded with a whole “we feel your pain” thing to the “American people.” Amazing that we’ve already reached the point where Republicans are quoting Democrats. #copolitics #housespeaker #thunderdome

— Jason Bane (@jason_bane) January 5, 2023

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UPDATE #5: Kevin McCarthy loses the eighth round.

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UPDATE #4: In the eighth vote, currently underway, Rep. Lauren Boebert switches her vote to Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma–briefly sparking a stir when the name “Kevin” was heard before it was realized she wasn’t talking about that Kevin.

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UPDATE #3: Always keen to milk a little extra press out of the spectacle, Rep. Matt “Giggity” Gaetz of Florida switches his vote to Donald Trump for the speakership.

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UPDATE #2: Rep. Lauren Boebert votes for Rep. Byron Donalds in the seventh vote, which appears on track for a seventh failure for Kevin McCarthy. Rep. Ken Buck despite his contradictory statements votes for McCarthy one more time.

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UPDATE: Freshman Rep-elect John James of Michigan nominates Kevin McCarthy for Speaker to kick off Vote #7. North Carolina Republican Rep-elect Dan Bishop then rises to nominate Florida Republican Byron Donalds as Speaker (again) before promptly accusing Republicans of being racist for not supporting Donalds.

Things are going great for the GOP.

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Watch the train wreck in live slow motion (that’s the speed of live), and stand by for updates: