Kevin McCarthy officially secured the speaker’s gavel early Saturday, elected on the 15th ballot with 216 votes, after four days of unsuccessful House votes and some last-minute drama.
The House reconvened at 10 p.m. Friday to hold the 14th and what McCarthy had thought would be the final ballot in the drawn out process to elect him as the 55th speaker.
But instead of winning on that vote, McCarthy fell one vote short as efforts from his allies to sway Florida Republican Matt Gaetz failed. Gaetz voted “present” on the 14th ballot, disappointing McCarthy and leading Republicans to move to adjourn the House until Monday.
