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In a sharp rebuke of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, more than a dozen House Republicans broke with their party, voting to block McCarthy from taking the gavel and leaving GOP leadership in limbo.
On Tuesday, 19 GOP lawmakers voted against McCarthy on the first ballot for the next speaker of the House—an outcome the floor has not seen in a century. With a slim House majority, McCarthy needed the support of almost his entire caucus, unable to lose more than four GOP votes to clinch the speakership.
The vote on the first day of the 118th Congress is a rocky start for Republican lawmakers, who won just enough seats in the midterms to take back control of the House in the wake of the party's disappointing midterm elections.
After the first ballot, Republicans voting against McCarthy rallied behind Jordan instead. Those who initially voted for Jordan repeated their votes on the second ballot, while the other 14 switched their votes to Jordan, who wound up with 19. The opposition to McCarthy was enough to bring the matter to a third ballot.
As of Tuesday morning, it seemed unlikely that McCarthy would be elected.
Even though he earned the endorsement of Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, he was unable to sway other members of the Freedom Caucus, like Representative Matt Gaetz, who said he remained opposed to McCarthy's bid even after a closed-door meeting with the GOP leader on Monday night.
"Kevin McCarthy had an opportunity to be Speaker of the House. He rejected it," Freedom House Caucus Chair Representative Scott Perry said in a statement released hours before the vote.
But McCarthy appeared resilient, telling his caucus Tuesday morning that "I'm going to stand until the last four friends stand with me. I'm not going anywhere," Politico's Olivia Beavers tweeted.
"I earned this job," he said. "We earned this majority, and...we are going to win it today," McCarthy told his colleagues in a final closed-door meeting.
At the same time, Democratic opposition to McCarthy remains steadfast. As Democratic leaders promised, their entire caucus voted against McCarthy, voting for Representative Hakeem Jeffries instead. Jeffries received 212 votes to McCarthy's 203. No member had enough votes—218—to be elected speaker.
Jeffries' ability to unify his party furthered concerns that McCarthy might not be able to lead the GOP.
Here is the full list of House Republicans who voted against McCarthy:
- Andy Biggs of Arizona
- Dan Bishop of North Carolina
- Lauren Boebert of Colorado
- Josh Breechen of Oklahoma
- Michael Cloud of Texas
- Andrew Clyde of Georgia
- Eli Crane of Arizona
- Matt Gaetz of Florida
- Bob Good of Virginia
- Paul Gosar of Arizona
- Andy Harris of Maryland
- Anna Paulina Luna of Florida
- Mary Miller of Illinois
- Ralph Norman of South Carolina
- Andy Ogles of Tennessee
- Scott Perry of Pennsylvania
- Matt Rosendale of Montana
- Chip Roy of Texas
- Keith Self of Texas
On the first ballot, the votes for Andy Biggs included the congressman himself, Bishop, Clyde, Crane, Gatez, Good, Gosar, Norman, Perry and Rosendale. Boebert, Cloud, Luna, Miller, Ogles and Self voted for Jordan. Breechen voted for Jim Banks, while Harris voted for Lee Zeldin, and Roy voted for Byron Donalds. Jordan, Banks, Zeldin and Donalds voted for McCarthy.
On the second ballot, all 19 non-McCarthy votes went to Jordan, who before the second vote nominated McCarthy and urged his colleagues to vote for the Californian.
Update 1/3/23, 3:15 p.m. ET: This story was updated to reflect the second ballot.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more