WASHINGTON — Kevin McCarthy began expanding his support as the 12th speaker vote got underway, gaining some key votes including Freedom Caucus Chair Scott Perry and influential conservative Chip Roy.
“Watch here and you will see some people who have been voting against me voting for me,” the embattled California Republican said just before the vote.
After four days of gridlock, the tide was finally starting to turn in favor of McCarthy who has made multiple concessions to hardliners within his party to win their votes. Eleven have flipped so far with voting ongoing but he needs several backers to gain a majority of members present.
He was still on track to lose on the 12th round.
In a dramatic moment before voting began, McCarthy supporters walked out of the chamber while key dissident Matt Gaetz, a Florida Republican, blasted the GOP leader on the floor.
McCarthy’s staunchest objectors appear immovable. Many of the ones who have flipped — including Perry — have clamored for a series of rules changes that give conservatives more influence.
McCarthy’s optimism grew after a pivotal conference call Friday morning trying to hash out the contours of a deal as the fractious caucus enters 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.
All of the details of the emerging agreement aren’t yet known, but McCarthy’s allies have hoped Roy could use his influence to bring 10 or 11 other Republicans into McCarthy’s camp. That brings McCarthy closer to the speakership, but doesn’t give him the majority.
Roy immediately took to Twitter to say “we are making progress” but that “any agreement will take us all.”
The mixed messages underscore the chaotic nature of negotiations over the last four days of gridlock.
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.
McCarthy’s fate remains uncertain heading into the weekend even as he gives in to the demands made by hard-line conservatives in exchange for their votes. 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.
Even McCarthy has suggested he doesn’t expect the matter to 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.
McCarthy is hoping that afternoon votes on the floor show he has peeled off at least some of the GOP defectors. He noted his overall tally may be lower because some supporters may have left town due to family issues.
One 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.
After three days of voting, 20 Republicans held firm in their opposition to McCarthy, more than enough to deny him the majority he needs.
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 multi-ballot speaker vote before that was in 1859, when 44 votes were needed.
Only six other speaker elections have taken more than 10 ballots.
