by Charlotte Hazard
Rep. Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday failed in the first round of balloting to secure enough votes to become the chamber’s next speaker.
McCarthy unofficially got 203 votes, about 16 short.
Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries received 212 votes
Arizona GOP Rep. Andy Biggs got 10 votes and others received nine votes.
The new GOP controlled-house has had an internal battle for speaker with some Republicans refusing to vote for McCarthy, stating he would be a a “continuation of past and ongoing Republican failures.”
Ahead of the vote, McCarthy predicted it would be a “battle on the floor.”
“We may have a battle on the floor but the battle is for the conference and the country and that’s fine with me,” he said following Tuesday’s GOP conference meeting.
“I don’t see how a few people, maybe it’s 5, maybe it’s 20, sit because they want a gavel that they can’t earn by the conference of themselves, that would be interesting to me, that’s not what the constituents voted them for,” McCarthy continued.
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Charlotte Hazard is a reporter at Just the News.
Photo “Kevin McCarthy” by Kevin McCarthy.
