Kevin McCarthy wins GOP nomination for House speaker Los Angeles Times

Table Of Content

• ‘How the hell does that even happen?’ McCarthy exits Congress amid confusion over who can run to replace him
• The House passes billions in aid for Ukraine and Israel after months of struggle
• Goldberg: For Israel and Ukraine alike, U.S. support is proving unreliable and inadequate
• Republicans move to second round of voting; Fleischmann eliminated

The vote came after weeks of mounting pressure on Republicans in a battleground state during a presidential election year. First, few Republicans — including some who oppose Johnson — want to be seen following the lead of the House’s most notorious cranks and bigots. Second, Trump doesn’t want the Republican caucus to turn into an embarrassing circular firing squad while he is running for president. (It’s remarkable that Trump is worried that other Republicans will make him look bad.) Third, Democrats have signaled that they will help Johnson keep his job after he courageously did the right thing.

‘How the hell does that even happen?’ McCarthy exits Congress amid confusion over who can run to replace him

If Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio was the most prominent public face of the congressional effort to fight the results of the 2020 election, his mentee, the newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, was a silent but pivotal partner. Johnson says that he will bring to the floor “in just a little while” a resolution in support of Israel. “We’re going to show not only Israel but the entire world that the barbarism of Hamas" is "wretched and wrong,” he said. “We are unified and so proud to have elected Mike Johnson as speaker of the People’s House,” Elise Stefanik says to kick off a news conference on the Capitol steps.

Mike Johnson confuses GOP in fight against motion to vacate - Axios

Mike Johnson confuses GOP in fight against motion to vacate.

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The House passes billions in aid for Ukraine and Israel after months of struggle

This is the first time Hal Rogers of Kentucky swears in the speaker, following the death of Don Young of Alaska in 2022. Left unmentioned was that many of the same rebels who helped lead the effort in Congress to overturn the 2020 election, giving rise to the assault that day, were also among the final holdouts working to block Mr. McCarthy’s ascent. Representative Victoria Spartz of Indiana, who had voted “present” in previous ballots, also voted for Mr. McCarthy in the 12th vote.

Goldberg: For Israel and Ukraine alike, U.S. support is proving unreliable and inadequate

The California Democrat was the first female speaker of the House and was known for her ability to coalesce her members behind her. She famously never took a vote to the floor without knowing what the outcome would be. After being rejected on the first ballot for House speaker, Jordan said he was “not really” surprised at the tally and expected to do better in the next round, possibly later Tuesday. Twenty Republicans voted for alternatives to Jordan on Tuesday, and he must pick up most of those to reach the 217 majority threshold.

House Republicans release aid bills for Israel and Ukraine, eyeing weekend House votes - NBC News

House Republicans release aid bills for Israel and Ukraine, eyeing weekend House votes.

Posted: Wed, 17 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

It’s not clear, however, that McCarthy can come back from three failed roll call votes. Shortly after Jordan nominated McCarthy, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), sitting just steps away from McCarthy, rose to nominate Jordan instead. Some Republicans have even lobbied Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, a conservative Democrat who opposes abortion rights, to switch parties, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Rep. Mike Johnson won on the final ballot for GOP speaker, defeating Rep. Byron Donalds, according to a tweet by Rep. Elise Stefanik. McCarthy, who was not a nominee, received 43 votes, and there was one other vote of "present." Asked Tuesday evening by reporters whether Trump's opposition had been a deciding factor in his withdrawal from the speaker race, Emmer replied, "I made my decision based on my relationship with the conference." This year’s speaker elections have seen a number of protest votes, like Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., voting for former President Donald Trump. Won the speakership in January after 15 rounds of voting on the House Floor.

House adjourns for second day without electing a speaker. Here's what you need to know

It's unclear how much of an impact the former president's backing would have on the race for speaker — he endorsed Rep. Jim Jordan's bid last week, but after three failed attempts to win a majority on the floor, the Ohio congressman was forced to drop his bid Friday. "I'm staying above it. I have to right now," the former president told reporters Monday in New Hampshire. "But I've spoken to just about all the candidates, there are quite a few of them. And they're terrific people." According to the rules of the Republican conference, once candidates are nominated — in alphabetical order — if none of the candidates win a majority of votes, the candidate who receives the lowest number of votes will be dropped from the ballot for the next round. Following his win, the Republican conference held a roll call vote to gauge Emmer's support.

The 118th version of the Senate did the same this week, convening for a celebratory induction of new members and the swearing in of re-elected senators on Tuesday, then quickly fleeing the capital for three weeks to allow the House to occupy the political stage alone. “I think it’s great that Matt Gaetz has a group up there that’s bringing attention to what’s wrong,” said William Paulovitz, 78, referring to the firebrand Florida Republican who has been one of the far-right rebels blocking Mr. McCarthy’s bid for speaker. Mr. Paulovitz, a retired businessman, dismissed his representative’s run for speaker in a place that representative knows all too well — outside Luigi’s, a popular lunch eatery that has long been a piece of Mr. McCarthy’s self-spun Bakersfield lore.

Thirty-three of the "other" votes were cast for McCarthy, Rep. Kat Cammack of Florida said. Johnson continued to earn the most votes with 97, followed by Donalds with 31 votes, Green with 21 votes and Williams with 20 votes. Republicans not on the ballot earned 34 "other" votes, while there were three "present" votes, according to Rep. Randy Weber of Texas. Reps. Roger Williams of Texas and Mark Green of Tennessee are no longer in contention for the speaker nomination after the second round of votes by Republicans.

A proposed repeal of Arizona’s near-total ban on abortions has won approval from the state House, clearing its first hurdle two weeks after a court concluded the state can enforce the 1864 law, which only offers an exception for saving the patient’s life. The announcement Friday afternoon came as protests escalated at the school’s campus in Los Angeles after school officials canceled an address by the student, Asna Tabassum, following complaints by a pro-Israel group that she had engaged in antisemitism in social media posts. Still, Congress has seen a stream of world leaders visit in recent months, from Zelenskyto Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, all but pleading with lawmakers to approve the aid. Globally, the delay left many questioning America’s commitment to its allies. “We did our work here, and I think history will judge it well,” said embattled Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) who is risking his own job to marshal the package to passage.

Still, a large contingent of the crowd hung on, with a mixed but visible reaction to Representative Lauren Boebert, who had been a hard holdout, voting “present.” Some booed, and one yelled “sellout! ” Later on, after some key votes for Mr. McCarthy, applause and cheers filled the bar. Mr. Trump’s call into the chamber came on the two-year anniversary of the riot by his supporters to block congressional certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s win over Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump called Mr. Gaetz, according to two people briefed on the call who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly. CNN reported that Mr. Trump also called Representative Andy Biggs, who switched from voting against Mr. McCarthy to voting “present” on the 15th round. Probing “the weaponization of the F.B.I.” as McCarthy just mentioned, was a big priority of the hard-right flank of defectors.

The motion to adjourn was adopted with little opposition Tuesday afternoon following hours of roll call votes that failed to elect a speaker. And given what is expected to be a narrow House majority, he will need nearly every single GOP vote to secure the 218 votes needed to become speaker, and later, to pass legislation. House Republicans are exhausted by weeks of infighting over who will lead the conference and frustrated by the inability of the chamber to pass legislation, particularly in response to the Israel-Hamas war.

The vitriolic attack on the top candidate for speaker from a member of his own party led some of Mr. McCarthy’s supporters to walk off the House floor while he spoke. And by the end of the day, with the majority of the detractors finally coalescing around Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Gaetz appeared to have softened his tone. Instead, he moved quickly to bring up a resolution expressing solidarity and support for Israel. His next order of business, he said, would be addressing what he called the country’s “broken border” with Mexico.

Johnson has laid out a tentative legislative schedule to approve new spending and take up other pieces of legislation, but things could change quickly as he confronts the realities of governing, especially given the fractious nature of the Republican conference. But the speech infuriated Mr. Trump, and Mr. McCarthy quickly worked to get back in the former president’s good graces, traveling to his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, three weeks later to meet with him. But after former President Donald J. Trump placed phone calls to a group of key holdouts, and a frenzied round of haggling on the House floor, Mr. McCarthy was broadly grinning again. While it was long before the dawn of Twitter, super PACs and C-SPAN, things really haven’t changed all that much in Congress.

McCarthy is eager to avoid a repeat of his failed bid for the speakership in 2015, when opposition from the GOP’s right-flank House Freedom Caucus doomed his chances after the ouster of Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio). Even if he wins the top job when the new House convenes in January and elects a speaker, McCarthy faces a difficult road in corralling the party’s factions. House Republicans voted Tuesday to nominate Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as the next speaker, putting the Bakersfield lawmaker on track to achieve a long-sought ambition.

Gimenez, former chief of the City of Miami Fire Department, highlighted that both Johnson and McCarthy are the sons of firefighters. Rep. Elise Stefanik, the chair of the House Republican conference, will deliver the speech nominating Johnson for speaker, according to a Republican aide. As Johnson made his way from his House office to the floor, he told CBS News that he "feels very good" about the vote and believes he can secure the necessary 217 votes on the first round. If all 221 Republicans and 212 Democrats mark themselves present, Johnson will need 217 votes to win the gavel. Two seats are vacant due to the resignations of Reps. Chris Stewart, a Republican from Utah, and David Cicilline, a Democrat from Rhode Island.