These Four Republicans Voted Against Adjourning Amid McCarthy Speaker Bid

Four Republicans joined the Democrats on Wednesday night in voting against adjourning the House, threatening failure of the motion after the GOP was unable to elect a speaker for a second day running.

Representatives Andy Biggs of Arizona, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Matt Gaetz of Florida and representative-elect Eli Crane of Arizona were the only Republicans who voted against the measure. Two Republicans and two Democrats abstained from voting.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was widely tipped to take over from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after the Republicans took back the House from the Democrats in the November mid-terms.

However, a chaotic day one showed that there was no easy way forward for McCarthy, who achieved only 203 votes in two rounds, despite needing 218 to claim the gavel. The Republican received fewer than Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, who took 212 votes in a GOP-controlled chamber.

After little success the following day on Wednesday, Republicans voted to adjourn by a slim 216 votes to 214. The House will reconvene at noon Thursday.

Asked by reporters as to why he chose to vote against the motion, Gaetz said "I love voting."

Newsweek has contacted Boebert for comment.

Democrats, meanwhile, had been told by senior leadership that they should vote against adjourning, to hold a seventh vote on the leadership, the fourth on Wednesday alone.

Earlier on Wednesday, 21 House Republicans refused to change their votes and remained defiant against McCarthy for the second day in a row. Many of the dissidents said that the Californian was too much of a moderate.

That vote came less than a day after more than half-a-dozen of House Republicans rebuked McCarthy in three separate floor votes.

The chaotic saga in the lower chamber has left the Republican party in disarray, as it marks the first time in a century that a House speaker has failed to be appointed with the opening ballot. Without one in place, newly elected members of Congress cannot be sworn in, and the Republican majority cannot begin implementing its legislative agenda.

Donald Trump has thrown his weight behind McCarthy as the new speaker of the House. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday, the former president wrote: "It's now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY."

Trump added that his fellow GOP members should "NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT."

However, many of Trump's most ardent supporters in the House, including Gaetz and Boebert, defied the former president and voted against McCarthy.