The adjournment of the US House of Representatives after it failed to elect a speaker despite three attempts to obtain the required support in three rounds of voting on Tuesday has resulted in growing uncertainty over Kevin McCarthy's fate who was regarded as the Republican Party's favourite to become speaker.
For the first time in 100 years, the US House of Representatives failed to elect a speaker on the first ballot after Top House Republican Kevin McCarthy fell short of a majority on the first ballot after failing to gain support from hardliners and other Republican representatives, CNN reported.
He also failed to win a majority in the subsequent two rounds of voting.
The tally for the first ballot in the speaker vote was 203 for McCarthy, with 19 Republicans voting for other candidates, in the second round it was 203 votes whereas, in the third round, there were 202 votes for McCarthy.
Notably, a candidate for speaker must receive a majority of votes cast on the House floor in order to be elected. If no member abstains or votes "present," that totals 218 votes, CNN reported.
House Republicans hold 222 seats in the new Congress, so McCarthy could only afford to lose four GOP votes to reach 218.
Following the November elections, Republicans gained a majority in the chamber, and the new session adjourned on Tuesday. The next vote will take place on Wednesday or later.
After Kevin McCarthy got defeated in the first ballot, Nancy Pelosi took a sharp dig at Republicans and tweeted, "Democrats are unified behind our great new leadership - Republicans are in conflict. Democrats passed historic bills to deliver For The People - Republicans can't even elect a Speaker. We've seen a Republican House - pure chaos. We CAN'T let them burn down what we've built. -NP"
According to The New York Post, US House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy did not receive the necessary number of votes to succeed Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) as Speaker on the first ballot, forcing the House to go to a second ballot for the first time in a century.
Kevin McCarthy became the first majority party leader in a century to be defeated on the first ballot.
California-Republican Representative McCarthy witnessed nineteen Republicans voting for someone other than him for House Speaker on the initial ballot Tuesday.
Among the voters, 10 voted for right-wing Representative-elect Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.): Biggs himself, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Eli Crane of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Bob Good of Virginia, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Matt Rosendale of Montana, according to The New York Post.
Meanwhile, six other members, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Mike Cloud of Texas, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Mary Miller of Illinois, Andy Ogles of Tennessee and Keith Self of Texas, voted for Representative-elect Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Representative-elect Josh Breechen of Oklahoma supported Jim Banks of Indiana and Andy Harris of Maryland-backed New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin. Representative-elect Chip Roy of Texas cast his vote for colleague Byron Donalds of Florida.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was elected with 216 votes in 2021.
The House will continue through possibly multiple ballots until a Speaker is elected.
( With inputs from ANI )
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