WASHINGTON — The three Texas Republican holdouts who have helped block U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for House speaker over the course of 11 historic votes and four days voted for the California Republican on Friday.
However, McCarthy still came up short of the votes to win the gavel during the first vote of the day Friday. Enough GOP members voted against McCarthy, denying him a majority — but the vote represented the most movement from his opponents since voting started Tuesday. It was the first vote where he won a plurality of votes, besting the Democrats’ choice, Hakeem Jeffries.
Reps. Chip Roy, R-Austin, and Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, as well as Rep.-elect Keith Self, R-McKinney, switched their votes for McCarthy, who is favored by the overwhelming majority of their party after a marathon of negotiations over how he would lead the House. Roy was one of the most vocal opponents to McCarthy’s speakership, demanding more changes to House rules to give more power to rank-and-file members and more mechanisms to keep leadership accountable.
