Three times rather than once, elected Republican Kevin McCarthy failed to rally the 218 votes needed to succeed Democrat Nancy Pelosi as speaker (Speaker of the House), thus illustrating deep dissension within the ranks of the Grand Old Party.
The House therefore adopted a motion to adjourn until Wednesday noon.
In the first round as in the second, 19 elected Republicans preferred other conservative candidates, leaving Mr. McCarthy with only 203 supporters.
During the second exercise, the 19 dissidents lined up behind Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio who had nevertheless called on his colleagues to unite behind Mr. McCarthy, leader of the Republican minority during the last session. The number of supporters for Mr. Jordan reached 20 in the third round.
The main Republican candidate was thus overtaken three times by the Democratic representative of New York State, Hakeem Jeffries, who obtained the support of the 212 elected Democrats. This is a strictly symbolic first place since Mr. Jeffries cannot hope to collect the necessary votes to win, the Democrats being in the minority in the House of Representatives.
Who are the opponents of Kevin McCarthy?
The Republican mutiny is led by a small group of elected ultra-conservatives who have openly opposed Mr. McCarthy’s candidacy for several weeks.
These include Arizona’s Andy Biggs, who got a few votes over McCarthy in the first round, and Florida MP Matt Gaetz. Both are staunch supporters of ex-President Donald Trump.
Endowed with very little room for maneuver, Kevin McCarthy had offered several concessions to the right flank of the Republican Party in recent days in the hope of consolidating his support. In particular, he had promised to facilitate the procedure to overthrow the holder of the post of president. It was a flagship request of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus (Freedom Caucus), of which MM. Biggs and Gaetz.
This announcement, however, did not appease its critics, who considered these concessions insufficient.
An essential vote
Republicans captured a narrow majority in the lower house of Congress by winning 222 seats in midterm elections last November. They have promised to use their counter-power by opening numerous investigations into President Joe Biden.
However, they must at all costs agree on the election of a new president of the House of Representatives before implementing their legislative program.
Kevin McCarthy has sworn to fight until he wins his case and precedent dictates that House representatives continue to vote until a president is elected.
Whatever happens, it is unlikely that this election will be as long as that of 1856. The elected members of the Chamber had then taken more than two months and 133 rounds to choose their president.
The only comparable precedent, since there are 435 representatives, is that of 1923, when it took nine ballots, over three days, to elect a Speaker of the House.