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House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's dissenters warned him that a second day of voting in the House of Representatives would be an even more nightmarish scenario for McCarthy, but a fourth vote for Speaker of the House revealed that the group stalling Congress hasn't grown since Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the same 20 House Republicans who voted for GOP Representative Jim Jordan in the third ballot, voted for Representative Byron Donalds instead, blocking McCarthy from the gavel for the fourth time this week. The last time a speaker was not elected on the first ballot was a century ago.
But while the opposition group remained unmoved, those GOP lawmakers were unsuccessful in bringing their colleagues over to their side and unable to produce the numbers they were previewing ahead of the vote.
"We're growing in numbers, and we're gonna stay here as long as it takes. We don't have an exit strategy," Representative Ralph Norman, who was among the 20 to vote against McCarthy, told Steve Bannon Wednesday morning. "They all said that it was only gonna be five of us. Well, they're wrong. There will be more than 20 of us today."
Ahead of the fourth vote, Representatives Andrew Clyde and Bob Good also told CNN that they believed more would join their group on Wednesday.
Yet, by the end of the fourth ballot, it was clear that there were no new McCarthy dissenters, even as the group of 20 put up a new name to challenge the California Republican. On Tuesday, all the votes against McCarthy in the second and third ballots went to Representative Jim Jordan. On Wednesday, those lawmakers rallied behind Representative Byron Donalds.
Opposition to McCarthy's bid for the speakership actually spurred fresh criticisms from the Republican colleagues those members hoped to flip.
Representative Warren Davidson, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said in a floor speech after the fourth ballot that while it was clear McCarthy's critics did not trust him, there was also growing distrust of his dissenters among the wider GOP conference.
"Right now, there are a lot of colleagues who don't trust 20 or more of my fellow Republicans," he said.
Although the anti-McCarthy votes didn't grow past 20, the House minority leader's votes fell further to 201 in the fourth vote after Representative Victoria Spartz flipped to vote present, instead of for a single member. She previously voted for McCarthy.
Democrat Hakeem Jeffries emerged with the highest number of votes again on Wednesday, with 212 votes, as his caucus remained united behind him and contended the fracture in the GOP was an argument against Republican leadership.
In order to be elected Speaker of the House, a member of Congress would need 218 votes in the chamber. While Spartz's present vote dropped the threshold to 217, McCarthy, Donalds and Jeffries do not have enough votes to win the gavel.
The vote is moving to a fifth 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