Republicans took control of the House this week, but Representative Kevin McCarthy’s new GOP majority is already off to a bad start.
After a dreadful day of defeats, McCarthy was dealt an even more devastating blow as one of his Republican supporters abandoned him and joined his dissenters in rebuking McCarthy as the next speaker of the House.
On Tuesday, the new Congress met to elect its next speaker. Even before the floor vote, it was reported that McCarthy would not have the votes to win his bid for the gavel. With a slim majority, McCarthy could not afford to lose more than four GOP votes.
Yet, twice, 19 House Republicans voted against him. First, they voted for other GOP lawmakers like Representatives Andy Biggs, Jim Jordan, Jim Banks, Lee Zeldin and Byron Donalds. Then, in the second ballot, all 19 rallied against McCarthy to vote for Jordan instead.
But it wasn’t until the third vote that it became clear other Republicans would soon break and withdraw their support for McCarthy. As lawmakers were called to vote a third time, Florida Representative Byron Donalds—who voted for McCarthy the first and second time—changed his vote for Jordan.
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In a statement posted to Twitter after the flip, Donalds wrote, “The reality is Rep. Kevin McCarthy doesn’t have the votes.”
“I committed my support to him publicly and for two votes on the House Floor,” the Florida Republican said. “218 is the number, and currently, no one is there.”
Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries had the highest number of votes, with 212.
“Our conference needs to recess and huddle and find someone or work out the next steps but these continuous votes aren’t working for anyone,” Donalds added. “When the dust settles, we will have a Republican Speaker, now is the time for our conference to debate and come to a consensus.”
He continued, “This will take time, Democracy is messy at times, but we will be ready to govern on behalf of the American people. Debate is healthy.”
Donalds’ third vote sent shockwaves down both sides of the aisle, as lawmakers appeared stunned and a smatter of applause was heard in the chamber.
Speaking to Fox News, Donalds said McCarthy could still have the ability to get the necessary votes, but he warned that forcing lawmakers to continuously vote again and again would eventually wear people down—potentially in the opposite direction.
“At the end of the day, you’ve got to close the deal,” the congressman told the network. “This is nothing new. There’s been disagreements about could he get to 218 votes on the floor for two months now. So, the biggest issue is if you can’t close this deal, at what point do members start looking elsewhere?”
“It’s not just about having a majority of the Republican conference,” he added. “It’s about having a majority of the committee of the whole, which is the full body. So, you have to get there…he’s not there.”
He urged the House to break for recess before calling another vote, contending the current trajectory is “not in the interest of the Republican Party.”
