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☆ As U.S. House speaker fight drags on, Republican holdout votes for Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Moira Warburton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Representative Matt Gaetz, one of 20 House hardliners who have rejected McCarthy, cast his ballot for Trump in a seventh round of voting. He was the only member to do so, leaving Trump far short of the 218 votes needed. The U.S. Constitution does not state that the speaker of the House needs to be a member of the House, though no outsider has held the role. Republican strategists said that the House hardliners' rejection of Trump's plea to vote for McCarthy illustrated the former president's weakening hold on the party he reshaped. Asked about Gaetz's move, a Trump representative on Thursday referred back to Trump's Wednesday post urging "VOTE FOR KEVIN."

WASHINGTON — U.S. House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., lost a seventh vote for House speaker Thursday, despite conceding to several new demands from his far-right opponents. An eighth vote was expected, although there were few signs that McCarthy's fortunes would improve. "I think everyone in the conversation wants to find a solution," McCarthy said on his way into the House chamber for the vote. With 222 Republicans in the House, he can't afford to lose more than four votes. Ahead of Thursday's votes, Democratic Party leaders berated Republicans for the party's dysfunction, and emphasized the harm that going days without a House speaker was inflicting on the legislative branch and the nation.

☆ Sean Hannity confronts Lauren Boebert for opposing McCarthy as speaker, asking: 'Is this a game show?'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Fox News host Sean Hannity challenged Rep. Lauren Boebert on Wednesday. He criticised her refusal to back Rep. Kevin McCarthy's House speaker bid. The GOP's failure to elect a House speaker has tipped the party into uncertainty. Like we're gonna pick Jim Jordan one day, Trump the other day?" The battle over the House speaker position has turned usually staunch political allies against each other.

☆ Who is Rep. Byron Donalds — ultra-conservatives' latest pick for House Speaker
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida is the far-right faction's latest choice for House Speaker. The 44-year-old is a second-term lawmaker and one of only five Black Republicans in Congress. Donalds graduated from Florida State University with a degree in financing and marketing. After an unsuccessful 2012 Congressional bid, Donalds was elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 2016. One of only five Black Republicans in Congress, Donalds expressed excitement about the number of Black Republicans running for Congress in 2022.

☆ The 20 Republicans holding the speakership hostage are employing Trumpian tactics while blatantly ignoring Trump's advice, extremism expert says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A group of 20 Republicans are wielding an inordinate amount of power as negotiations continue. An extremism expert told Insider the holdouts are employing "Trumpism" without Trump's influence. "The influential part of these 20 votes don't care whether they control the House speakership or not," he told Insider. The former president issued a last-minute plea on Wednesday morning, urging Republicans to set aside their differences and make McCarthy speaker. Ward warned that this chaos will be just the beginning should the 20 Republicans ultimately get their way.

☆ Giving away more power did nothing for Kevin McCarthy, who lost his 8th House speaker ballot after further bowing to dissidents' demands
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Warren Rojas | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Kevin McCarthy kept flailing Thursday as 20 House conservatives torched another speaker vote. Republican Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who was once a thorn in House Democrats' side, said the GOP could be in for chaos if talks could on their current trajectory. Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas previously compared bringing back the procedural maneuver to governing "with a gun to your head." According to multiple reports, McCarthy has now agreed to let a single House Republican wield that power. This almost certainly means McCarthy would need to rely on House Democrats, a scenario that has doomed past GOP speakers.

☆ Trump says it is actually great for Republicans that Kevin McCarthy failed to become speaker 6 times in a row
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Former President Donald Trump commented on Kevin McCarthy's ailing House speaker bid. He said the 2 days of voting that failed to elect a speaker had made the process "BIGGER & MORE IMPORTANT." Trump's endorsement of McCarthy hasn't swayed the 20 Republicans who continue to oppose him. The House adjourned on Wednesday after a second day of voting in which Rep. Kevin McCarthy failed to secure the 218 votes required to be elected House speaker. It's the first time since 1923 that a House speaker election hasn't been resolved on the first day.

And while it’s still possible that some other modest pieces of legislation can be brought to a vote and passed in the House, the political dynamics inside the House GOP will make even the most milquetoast bipartisan and nonideological issues difficult to pass. Just for context — it’s been 100 years since an incoming House has failed to elect a speaker on its first roll call. It’s one that may, in fact, match the former president in malevolency and outpace him in ineptitude. Just look at what has taken place over the last several weeks in the lead-up to this week as Freedom Caucus members have been jockeying for power. To win enough votes for speaker, McCarthy has been hard at work horse-trading with the extreme right wing of his party to secure his speakership.

☆ Marjorie Taylor Greene complained that Boebert and Gaetz 'negotiated nothing for me' as they held House speaker vote to ransom
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Marjorie Taylor Greene vented over Kevin McCarthy's ailing campaign to be elected House speaker. McCarthy's bid has exposed divisions between former close allies in the Republican Party. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) January 3, 2023"Do you know why I'm upset? The battle over the House speaker position has, in recent days, turned usually adamant allies on the GOP hard right against each other. While Greene has backed McCarthy's bid, other prominent members of the faction, including Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, have opposed it.

☆ MTG tears into the 19 Republicans who voted against McCarthy, calls their rebellion 'the worst thing that could possibly happen'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene addressed Kevin McCarthy's ailing bid to become House Speaker. "If the base only understood that 19 Republicans voting against McCarthy are playing Russian roulette with our hard earned Republican majority right now. This is the worst thing that could possibly happen," Greene, a Georgia Republican, wrote on Twitter. McCarthy is opposed by 19 Republicans from the hard right of the party, who are seeking sweeping concessions in return for their backing. The battle over the Speaker role has exposed deep divisions between Republican moderates who back McCarthy and the party's hard right.

It was the first time in 100 years that the House has not elected a speaker on its first day. McCarthy has refused to give up against the hardliners, who make up less than one-tenth of the House Republican conference. Supporters of McCarthy, who has served as House Republican leader since 2019, accuse some hardliners of conducting a "Never Kevin" campaign aimed solely at stopping him. He may not want it right now, but George Washington did not want to be president," Representative Lauren Boebert told Fox News. Some Republicans warned that continued obstruction could lead them to work with Democrats to elect a moderate Republican as speaker.

☆ AOC says she was telling Matt Gaetz the Democratic Party would 'absolutely not' rescue Kevin McCarthy's speakership bid when they were spotted chatting on the House floor
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Cheryl Teh | Azmi Haroun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was spotted chatting with Matt Gaetz on the House floor on Tuesday. "McCarthy was suggesting he could get Dems to walk away to lower his threshold," Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept. Ocasio-Cortez added to Semafor that she told Gosar the same thing she told Gaetz: that her party would not be helping McCarthy out. Rebuking both Gosar and Gaetz, Greene tweeted on Tuesday that "making plans with Democrats is not what any Republican should be doing." Representatives for Gaetz, Gosar, Greene, and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

[1/5] U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy arrive for dinner at Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S., January 14, 2018. They ignored him, voting three more times against McCarthy after three such votes on Tuesday, and instead backing second-term Representative Byron Donalds. "That's because Trump's relationship with the party is increasingly becoming less about Trump the man, and more about the forces Trump has unleashed on the party." His allies have privately contacted offices of several House Republicans who voted against McCarthy, including the office of Donalds himself, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Some in the party blame Trump for the weaker-than-expected performance in the November midterm elections that gave them a narrow 222-212 majority in the House, amplifying the power of hardliners representing less than 10% of House Republicans.

Share this -Link copiedConservatives opposed to McCarthy seen huddling in chamber during third vote During the third ballot vote for speaker, several House Republicans who have opposed McCarthy to be speaker were seen huddling in the back of the chamber. McCarthy lost twice earlier in the day, with 19 conservatives casting their ballots for Rep. Jim Jordan, of Ohio, in the second round. Share this -Link copiedDemocrats mock Republicans over inability to elect House speaker Now in the minority, House Democrats appeared to enjoy the GOP divisions over electing a speaker Tuesday. Share this -Link copiedPelosi reacts to Republicans' struggling to elect GOP speaker As House Republicans struggled to elect their own speaker now that they have the majority, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested the GOP is ruining Congress as an institution. Pelosi stepped down as the Democratic leader after serving as House speaker twice.

☆ Matt Gaetz says 'you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge' to 'drain the swamp' in opposing Kevin McCarthy's bid for speaker: 'I'm a Florida man and I know of what I speak'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( Oma Seddiq | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Matt Gaetz criticized Kevin McCarthy who is seeking to become House speaker. The vote to elect a House speaker takes place on Tuesday. "If you want to drain the swamp, you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge of the exercise," Gaetz said. "We offered Kevin McCarthy terms last evening that he rejected," Gaetz said, adding that those opposed to McCarthy's bid also "struggle" with trusting him. If Republicans continue their protest against McCarthy, it could take hours, days, or even weeks until a speaker is chosen.

☆ Kevin McCarthy's speaker bid will be messy either way, says Mick Mulvaney
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-03 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailKevin McCarthy's speaker bid will be messy either way, says Mick MulvaneyMick Mulvaney, former White House chief of staff and Actum Strategic Advisers co-chair, joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss how Mulvaney sees the battle for House Speaker playing out, how long the process can take and more.

☆ 9 hardline Republicans are withholding support for Kevin McCarthy's bid for Speaker of the House, demanding more concessions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Kevin McCarthy's race to become House Speaker looks set to go down to the wire. Several hardline GOP lawmakers are making further demands before McCarthy can secure their votes. The House GOP then announced several concessions in a provisional rules package, per CNN. Among the issues being thrashed out is the procedure for ousting a House Speaker, something that some conservative hardliners want to make far easier. On Sunday's call, McCarthy agreed to set the threshold to five lawmakers, CNN reported.

☆ Conservatives vying to derail Kevin McCarthy's speaker bid may not be able to stop him. But forcing multiple votes — the record is 133 — could still make for a historic fight.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Kevin McCarthy is working to clinch the votes needed to become House speaker in 2023. Around a dozen House Republicans currently have issues with giving him the job. Should getting a promotion require more than five dozen ballots, McCarthy would move into Howell Cobb territory (63 ballots; 1849). In order to push McCarthy past Banks in terms of all-time ballots, blockers would have to keep McCarthy at bay at least 134 times. "We may see the cherry blossoms before we have a Speaker," the Trump-aligned Floridian said, citing DC's seasonal spectacle.

☆ Trump tells House GOP holdouts to drop their opposition to Kevin McCarthy's bid for speaker, says they're 'playing a very dangerous game'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Trump has called on House GOP holdouts to drop their opposition to McCarthy's speakership. During a Brietbart interview, the former president said McCarthy "deserves the shot" to lead. "Look, I think this Kevin has worked very hard," Trump said during the interview. Hopefully, he's going to be very strong and going to be very good and he's going to do what everybody wants." But I have to tell them, and I have told them, you're playing a very dangerous game," he added.

☆ Kevin McCarthy's impossible GOP math
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Stephen Collinson | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is far from assured of winning sufficient support in his party to become House speaker next month. The tiny GOP House majority that takes over in January, after a disappointing midterm performance, would mean a fragile governing mandate for any party at any point in American history. McCarthy’s impossible mathFrom a broader political perspective, it might be in McCarthy’s interest to stand up to the most extreme members of his conference. The path to the GOP majority went through comparatively moderate seats in places like New York that will be most at risk in the 2024 election. But it also reflected Greene’s growing personal power, after she broke with some radical GOP members and lined up to support McCarthy’s speakership.

☆ Marjorie Taylor Greene says a group of Republicans called 'the 5 families' is meeting every week in Kevin McCarthy's office, in an apparent mob reference
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said a group of Republican is meeting every week in Kevin McCarthy's office. The meeting is called "the five families," she said, in an apparent mafia reference. Greene made the mob reference while speaking on a Tuesday episode of conspiracy theorist Steve Bannon's show, "The War Room." "And there's a meeting happening every week, and we meet in Kevin McCarthy's office." Representatives for Greene and McCarthy did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

☆ Kevin McCarthy's oversight agenda will be 'a recurring skit on SNL' if he makes MAGA cheerleaders Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert investigators: GOP strategists
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( Warren Rojas | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert want in on the GOP oversight blitz. the Oversight Committee member said of the need to keep congressional probes above board. McCarthy's office has repeatedly told Insider that the House GOP steering committee, which McCarthy leads, will handle assignments for the next Congress "at the appropriate time." Aaron Cutler, a former House GOP leadership aide and now partner at Hogan Lovells, urged House Republicans to avoid "focusing on the wrong things," and to cut bait if needed. Michael Reynolds-Pool/Getty ImagesGiven that some sort of spectacle is probably unavoidable at this point, Roe urged House Republicans to tread carefully.

☆ McCarthy's struggle to lock down House Speaker roils GOP caucus, delays key committee assignments
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

A spokesman for McCarthy did not respond to questions from CNBC about the committee vote schedule. Instead, both sides have dug in over the past week, telling reporters they're ready to take the fight all the way to the House floor on Jan. 3. "Oh yeah, I'll take the speaker's fight to the floor," McCarthy told reporters in the Capitol recently. "The goal was never to embarrass Kevin McCarthy on the [House] floor, no one wants that," she said. It also prompted McCarthy to issue a long statement condemning her prior remarks, which he said "do not represent the values or beliefs of House Republicans."

☆ House Republicans brace for leadership struggle as Democrats tap Pelosi heir
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

A senior House Republican aide predicted that McCarthy would be elected speaker without a protracted contest. There may be multiple ballots," said Republican Representative Fred Upton, who is retiring from Congress. House speakers are elected on the floor by the full 435-seat chamber, including Republicans, Democrats and independents, with 218 votes needed for success. "We're willing to do multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple votes. "And if they refuse to compromise ... we'll work with Democrats to put in an agreeable Republican," Bacon added.

☆ See Kevin McCarthy's stark warning to GOP if he isn't voted House Speaker
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

CNN political analyst Jonathan Martin reacts to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy warning House Republicans to back his bid for House Speaker and predicts what could happen if he loses.

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