The historic failure puts the 118th Congress on track to tie or pass the 68th Congress for the number of ballots required to elect a speaker, which required nine ballots in 1923. The all-time record is 133 ballots, set in 1855-56.
A continued stalemate also risks House Republicans struggling to elect their leader on the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Metal detectors outside the chamber were immediately removed once Republicans formally took control of the chamber this week.
McCarthy signaled to reporters ahead of the seventh ballot that he would again fall short because negotiations with some of his conservative antagonists are ongoing. After the sixth failed vote Wednesday afternoon, Republicans voted to adjourn until Wednesday evening to give McCarthy more time to win over skeptics. When they reconvened that evening, Republicans postponed the next vote again, to Thursday.
Still, McCarthy has yet to convert a single member to his column. Instead, he lost Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who has consistently been voted as the top McCarthy alternative, and Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who began voting “present” Wednesday, and some conservative Republicans began supporting a new alternative on the eighth ballot.
“I rise to cast my vote for a member not of the Freedom Caucus but for Kevin, the unanimously elected chairman of the Republican Study Committee,” Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said. “A businessman from humble beginnings. A leader. A true consensus candidate that can deliver. I vote today for Kevin Hern.”
Conservatives in the House Freedom Caucus who have supported an alternative to McCarthy for speaker want him to make more concessions to potentially win them over. The list of asks includes lowering the threshold so that a single member of the House Republican Conference can offer a motion to vacate the chair, a tool that could oust the speaker; placing more Freedom Caucus members and allies on the Rules Committee; and a commitment to hold a vote on term limits legislation for members of Congress.
“Nothing’s agreed to until everything’s agreed to,” McCarthy said Thursday morning.
The embattled Republican leader is 16 votes shy of being elected speaker, but there are members of the so-called “Never Kevin” caucus — which includes Reps. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado — who insist they will never support him in a floor vote, calling into question whether he has a plausible path to the job at all.
“You never have to ask me again if I’m a no on Kevin McCarthy,” Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.) told reporters. “I will never vote for Kevin McCarthy.”
Although nearly all of the 20 Republicans who have supported McCarthy alternatives on the floor voted for Donalds on the seventh ballot, Gaetz voted for former President Trump. On the eighth ballot, the anti-McCarthy vote was split between Donalds and Hern.
Gaetz again voted for Trump.