WASHINGTON — Kevin McCarthy fell just short of a majority in a 13th speaker ballot on Friday, but he has managed to win over some key Republicans, including Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry and influential conservative Chip Roy, that showed he was finally starting to turn the tide in his favor.
After four days of gridlock and promises of multiple concessions to Republican hardliners, McCarthy converted another holdout to his side in the latest round, giving him 15 more votes than he had Thursday. But with the GOP holding only a narrow majority in the House, he still likely needs to flip at least two of the six remaining holdouts, depending on absences.
“This is the public show of the momentum we’ve had behind the scenes around the policy and process to deliver a conservative agenda,” McCarthy ally Patrick McHenry of North Carolina said before the 13th round of voting got underway.
Many of the members who have flipped — including Perry — have clamored for a series of rules changes that give conservatives more influence. Those changes were the subject of an emerging deal McCarthy discussed with members on a Friday morning conference call. Perry and some of the other Republicans who changed their votes said their continued support for McCarthy depends on carrying out that deal.
“If the framework isn’t agreed to I’m out,” Perry said.
McCarthy’s optimism grew after the pivotal conference call to hash out the contours of a deal as the fractious caucus entered its fourth day of an increasingly bitter public feud, a person familiar with the negotiations said. McCarthy also raised the possibility of Saturday votes on speaker, the person said.
McCarthy’s allies had focused on winning over Roy, whose influence would bring many of the holdouts into McCarthy’s camp.
Roy has been angling to open up floor procedures to amendment votes, forbidding giant packages of bills and to guarantee conservatives have more seats on key committees — all points of contention with moderates in the party. McCarthy during the call said that bills would still go through committees and that he had not given away committee gavels to reach the accord.
One concession McCarthy has made is to allow any single member to bring an immediate vote to depose the speaker at any time.
Another emerging part of McCarthy’s deal with dissidents is to hold defense spending at fiscal 2022 levels, people familiar with the negotiations said. That threatens to spur an uprising among defense hawks in the caucus, who regularly push for large increases to defense spending and who have so far backed McCarthy.
Senior members of the Appropriations Committee have also balked at suggestions that McCarthy opponents be given plum committee assignments they have not earned via seniority. And they are fighting attempts to block earmarks for lawmakers’ pet projects.
McCarthy’s fate remained uncertain heading into the weekend even as he gives in to the demands made by hard-line conservatives. Party moderates, considered McCarthy’s strongest base of support, are growing increasingly frustrated with the deal-making, which they fear will give dissidents out-sized influence.
Republicans are waiting for two McCarthy supporters to return to the Capitol to vote. Rep. Wesley Hunt was away to meet his newborn child and Rep. Ken Buck left Thursday because of illness. With all GOP members present, McCarthy only needs to flip two more of the six members who have yet to support him.
In a dramatic moment before voting began Friday, McCarthy supporters walked out of the chamber while key dissident Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, blasted the GOP leader on the floor. He is among McCarthy’s staunchest objectors, a small group that appears immovable.
Even McCarthy has suggested he wasn’t sure the matter would be resolved Friday.
“I don’t know if we will get there today but we are going to make progress,” McCarthy told reporters shortly before the call started.
Electing a speaker is the first order of business for House members, and they can do nothing else until that’s done except adjourn.
“With a narrow, four-seat majority, it is essential we hit the ground running and quickly execute our Commitment to America,” Arkansas Republican Steve Womack said in a statement. “A chamber full of representatives who have yet to take their oaths of office – it’s hard to wrap one’s head around it.”
McCarthy’s back-to-back losses marked a post-Civil War record for the number of ballots needed to select a speaker. In 1923, Frederick Gillett, a Massachusetts Republican, was elected to the post after nine ballots. The last multiballot speaker vote before that was in 1859, when 44 votes were needed.
Only four other speaker elections have taken more than 12 ballots.
