Mid-term elections last November Republicans in the House of Representatives he managed to win 10 more seats than President Joe Biden’s ruling Democrats, and pundits considered the speaker selection a formality.
Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy fell short of a simple majority of 218 votes because his election was blocked by right-wing Republican lawmakers.
McCarthy, 57, was shocked that 19 Republican lawmakers voted against him in the first two rounds and as many as 20 in the third round.
McCarthy got just 202 or 203 votes to Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ 212 votes, but there’s no question that a Republican will eventually be elected Speaker of the House.
McCarthy was not elected despite giving in to calls from right-wing Republicans to hold aggressive investigations against President Biden and other Democratic politicians after the House of Representatives came under Republican control.
The House of Representatives has decided to adjourn until Wednesday, when efforts to elect a new president will continue. But experts refuse to predict the outcome. No influential alternative candidate to McCarthy has emerged so far, so the process could take some time.
The situation where the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives requires several rounds of elections was already experienced in 1923. In 1855, the Speaker was elected in 133 rounds of elections which took place over two months.
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