Former President Donald Trump sounded the call for all Republicans to step up to cast votes for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) into the role of Speaker of the House.
The legislator ended up falling short of the requisite 218 votes needed to secure control of the gavel across three separate ballots during the very first meeting on Tuesday of this new Congress. Defectors within the Republican caucus have begun to rally around Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) as a prime alternative, while Democrats were issuing support behind House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).
Previously, Trump had endorsed McCarthy to become the leader of House Republicans. As part of an interview held this past Tuesday with Garrett Haake, an NBC News correspondent, the former commander-in-chief was non-committal. “We’ll see what happens,” he stated. “We’ll see how it all works out.”
Trump made sure to once again share an endorsement of McCarthy via Truth Social this past Wednesday morning, seemingly indicating that he spoke to a number of the remaining holdouts this past Tuesday evening.
“Some really good conversations took place last night,” he stated in a post, “and it’s now time for all of our GREAT Republican House Members to VOTE FOR KEVIN, CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY & WATCH CRAZY NANCY PELOSI FLY BACK HOME TO A VERY BROKEN CALIFORNIA, THE ONLY SPEAKER IN U.S. HISTORY TO HAVE LOST THE ‘HOUSE’ TWICE!”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who has held the position as lead Democrat in the chamber for close to twenty years, is not attempting to secure re-election to her previous top position as she completes her coming two-year term. She maintained control of the position for the period of 2007 to 2011 under President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, once again taking up the gavel in 2019 in the wake of Democrats once again retaking control of the chamber under Trump.
“REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT. IT’S TIME TO CELEBRATE, YOU DESERVE IT,” the statement from Trump expressed. “Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, and maybe even a GREAT JOB – JUST WATCH!”
As of writing, Republicans currently hold a razor-thin majority within the House i the wake of very lackluster performance from the recent midterm elections, which also resulted in Democrats maintaining control of the Senate. In the wake of announcing his bid to secure control of the gavel just a single day after the midterms, McCarthy was quickly forced to deal with calls from a group of House Republicans on subjects such as only bringing up single-issue bills and making serious efforts to place limits on federal expenditures.
Currently, the Republican holdout votes from Tuesday included Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Rep. Mike Cloud (R-TX), Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA), Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rep. Bob Good (R-VA), Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-MT), Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), and Rep. Keith Self (R-TX).
