House adjourns with no speaker after Kevin McCarthy falls short

WASHINGTON — Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy failed to attain the required votes to become House speaker on the first three ballots Tuesday — leaving millions of Americans wondering how long the power struggle will last.

McCarthy (R-Calif.) could only lose four Republican votes in his bid to replace former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), but watched as 19 GOPers balked on the first and second ballots, joined by a 20th defector on the third.

The House adjourned Tuesday evening without a resolution, scheduling a fourth round of voting to begin around noon Wednesday.

The surprising size of the rebellion denied McCarthy a quick ascension to be House speaker — a role that’s third in line to the presidency and expected to serve as a check on President Biden following two years of united Democratic rule in Washington.

McCarthy’s struggle delighted his right-wing detractors, who say Republicans need a stronger champion due to McCarthy’s past support for large bipartisan spending packages while in leadership.

But the Californian’s foes admit it’s unclear how the fight will be resolved — leaving politicians and journalists dusting off the history books.

“It won’t [end] until McCarthy drops out,” a former House leadership aide who has been involved in anti-McCarthy planning told The Post. “He’ll have to drop out at some point — it’s just when his ego lets him.”

Rep. Kevin McCarthy failed to receive enough votes to become the next speaker of the House on the first and second ballots on January 3, 2023. Getty Images

However, a source close to McCarthy told The Post “he ain’t budging” on his candidacy and planned on “staying in until he’s elected.”

Both the pro- and anti-McCarthy operatives said the GOP mutineers also are broadly skeptical of No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise of Louisiana, meaning he may not be an easy fill-in if McCarthy steps aside.

One source said Scalise may have even more trouble winning as an alternate speaker candidate because he upset allies of Jim Banks (R-Ind.) in the recent whip race, which was won by Tom Emmer (R-Minn.).

McCarthy supporters argue that he’s the strongest and most unifying potential speaker and his refusal to step aside has prompted the consideration of end-games unseen for a century or more.

The last speaker election to go beyond the first ballot was in 1923, when it took nine tries over three days to re-elect Frederick Gillett (R-Mass.).

This is the first time in 100 years that a second vote for speaker of the House has been necessary. C-SPAN

Republicans had one more seat at the time than they do today and Gillett won with concessions to the progressive wing of the party.

But McCarthy already has made allowances to his right-wing detractors, who instead dug in deeper — leaving open possibilities unseen since before the Civil War if McCarthy continues his candidacy.

In 1849 and 1856, the House voted to allow a plurality of lawmakers to elect a speaker as the bitterly divided nation’s representatives failed to reach a compromise.

It took almost two months and an all-time record 133 ballots before Nathaniel Banks of Massachusetts was elected speaker in 1856.

Previous 1 of 5 Next Advertisement Several Republicans voted for Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs for speaker. The House Democrats untied behind incoming Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. Advertisement McCarthy could only afford to lose the votes of four House GOP members in order to win the election. Advertisement

However, Republicans may be reluctant to take such a step, since a plurality vote would increase the odds of Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York winning and shocking everyone.

“Who will end up [speaker], no one knows,” said the onetime leadership aide involved in anti-McCarthy planning, adding that dissident legislators “executed this flawlessly so far.”

The source said “other names” will emerge “when things get real” and predicted that a relatively obscure conservative lawmaker who isn’t currently in House leadership roles may ultimately take the gavel.

Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who supported McCarthy on the first three ballots, told reporters that the struggle “cost us prestige.”

“We’re embroiled in a tug of war,” said Sessions, who added that it seemed “pretty hard” for McCarthy to eke out a victory because his foes are “dug in.”

“The whole world is watching and I would like to see us resolve our differences today,” said Sessions, who called for “an adult” within the Republican Party, such as former Speaker Newt Gingrich, to broker a deal.

Another lawmaker was overheard by The Post noting that the opposition thus far to McCarthy could be the tip of an iceberg — noting that less than half of members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus currently oppose the party leader.

On the first ballot, 10 Republicans voted for staunchly conservative Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) — Biggs himself and Dan Bishop (R-NC), Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.), Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Bob Good (R-Ga.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), Ralph Norman (R-SC), Scott Perry (R-Pa.) and Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.).

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 Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on the first ballot.

Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma supported Banks and Andy Harris of Maryland backed New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas cast a surprise vote for colleague Byron Donalds of Florida.

On the second ballot, all 19 holdouts supported Jordan, who tried to head off the revolt by giving the nominating speech for McCarthy. It failed, as the Californian remained stuck on 203 votes.

“Maybe the right person for the speaker of the House isn’t someone who wants it so bad,” Gaetz said in nominating Jordan prior to the second vote.

Previous 1 of 5 Next Advertisement Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy failed to attain the required votes to become House speaker on the first three ballots Tuesday. On the second ballot, all 19 holdouts supported Jim Jordan, who tried to head off the revolt by giving the nominating speech for McCarthy. Advertisement 19 GOPers supported other candidates on the first and second ballots — with more expected to defect on ballot three. Advertisement

“Jim Jordan is the right person for speaker of the House because he is not beholden to the lobbyists and special interests who have corrupted this place and corrupted this nation under the leadership of both Republicans and Democrats,” Gaetz went on.

Jordan was seen earlier Tuesday huddling outside the House chamber with former Trump White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who has publicly slammed the anti-McCarthy bloc’s tactics, and pollster Frank Luntz.

All 212 Democrats in the chamber supported Jeffries, the first black leader of either party in the House, on all three ballots.

While McCarthy showed no signs of picking up support, his backers signaled a willingness to go through multiple ballots to ensure he got the gavel.

Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), who reps Staten Island and southern Brooklyn, announced to the chamber as she cast her first-ballot vote, “No matter how many times it takes, McCarthy.”

However, the number of Republicans voting against McCarthy surprised even conservative staffers on Capitol Hill and plunged his gavel hopes into doubt. McCarthy previously mounted a challenge for the speakership in 2015, but was forced to bow out after rumors spread about his relationship with a female House Republican.

Donalds, who supported McCarthy on the first two ballots, said in a CNN appearance ahead of the third that it was “clear” he “doesn’t have the votes. So, at some point, as a conference, we’re going to have to figure out who does.”

Donalds then joined the 19 defectors in backing Jordan on the third ballot.

Previous 1 of 3 Next Advertisement The anti-McCarthy faction accused the bulk of the caucus of trying to browbeat them into submission. This is the first time in 100 years a fourth ballot has been needed. Advertisement

McCarthy caved to some hardline conservative demands ahead of the Tuesday balloting, including agreeing to allow a group of five lawmakers to force a confidence vote on the speaker.

However, McCarthy didn’t publicly embrace other demands from his detractors, including guaranteeing committee slots and subcommittee chairmanships for House Freedom Caucus members, forming a separate legal entity led by Freedom Caucus members to pursue investigations, and creating a select committee to investigate the politicization of the FBI and other federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies — though McCarthy did hint at his support for the latter.

The panel to investigate the FBI is a potential play from McCarthy if the balloting drags on much longer.

But Republicans opposed to McCarthy gave no signal of ending their rebellion — opting not to capitulate after a show of strength, as some Hill-watchers expected.

Norman, the South Carolina congressman who opposes McCarthy, told reporters after the second ballot that “in nine months, we’ll have another debt ceiling crisis. We need somebody that will shut the government down — not keep taking spending that is ruining this country, that’s the message.”

Norman said “none of it’s personal, I like Kevin, but we’re at the point financially where we’re breaking … His history has been he’s voted to go along to get along.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), a far-right McCarthy supporter, lit into her colleagues, telling reporters that three members “were demanding positions for themselves, demanding gavel positions, demanding subcommittees, demanding for people to be taken off committees and people to be put on committees. Three, three Republicans out of our 222.”

McCarthy himself delivered a fiery speech to a contentious closed-door conference meeting before the first vote Tuesday, telling Republicans: “I earned this job.”

“We earned this majority, and God damn it, we are going to win it today,” he told his colleagues.

The anti-McCarthy faction accused the bulk of the caucus of trying to browbeat them into submission, with Boebert — who had responded to McCarthy’s remarks in the meeting by shouting, “This is bulls—” — telling reporters that “we are being sworn at instead of being sworn in.”

Boebert also griped that Freedom Caucus-backed legislation to increase border security and require a balanced federal budget and term limits for lawmakers had been ignored by McCarthy.

“At this moment, we would prefer to have a unity of purpose,” Gaetz told reporters Tuesday morning, “but we will not continue to allow the uniparty to run this town without a fight.

“There’s very little difference between Nancy Pelosi and her California delegation-mate that seeks the gavel and we want change, because this town is broken.”

Democrats, meanwhile, had trouble disguising their satisfaction with how House Republicans were beginning their two-year mandate.

Former Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), who served in the House and Senate for a combined 40 years ending in 2017, mused to The Post that Republicans might not have a speaker until Memorial Day.

“I would love for Hakeem Jeffries to emerge as the speaker. But it is telling that the Republicans are so dysfunctional that they cannot even perform the basic task of selecting a speaker,” sneered Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who represents the South Bronx.

“We know that there’s likely to be a Republican speaker. The question remains, ‘Which Republican?’ And the odds seem stacked against Kevin McCarthy.”