McCarthy finally won the speaker's gavel after historic 15 rounds of voting.
The House Republican leadership standoff ended early Saturday morning with Kevin McCarthy winning the speaker's gavel on a historic 15th vote.
It was the longest such election since 1859.
The drama stretched into a fourth day Friday with three more failed votes to decide on a speaker after 11 others over Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday -- the last one ending in a heated one-vote loss at the hands of holdout Matt Gaetz.
McCarthy had been stymied by a small group of hardliners demanding concessions to reshape how the House is run and legislation it prioritizes.
Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., switched his vote for speaker after voting for McCarthy in the first two rounds.
Donalds, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, backed Rep. Jim Jordan in the third round of voting. If every candidate who voted for Jordan on the second ballot does so again, the Ohioan will get at least 20 votes.
Ahead of the House entering a third vote for the speakership, Rep. Pete Aguilar again nominated Rep. Hakeem Jeffries for Democrats, prompting "Hakeem" chants from their side of the chamber, as Republicans remain in disarray.
"For unity in Congress and progress in our country, Democrats are united behind Hakeem Jeffries. I recommend Hakeem Jeffries as our speaker," Aguilar said to applause.
Rep. Chip Roy of Texas nominated Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, again, despite Jordan losing in prior votes, his saying he didn't want the position and asking Republicans to unite around McCarthy.
"Now, Jim has said he doesn't want that nomination, and Jim has been down here nominating Kevin, and I respect that. Again, I have no personal animus toward Kevin," Roy said. "But we do not have the tools or the leadership yet to stop the swamp from rolling over the American people. Jim has been doing it, he has a track record for doing that, and for those reasons, I'm nominating Jim Jordan for speaker of the House."
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., McCarthy's No. 2, slammed McCarthy's critics as obstructionists to legislative efforts to tackle issues like immigration and energy reserves.
"We all came here to get things done. To get big things done. To solve the problems. And I hope when we get through today that all the members on both sides of the aisle will get together to solve the problems," he said when nominating McCarthy before the third round of voting.
However, he said, "we can't start fixing those problems until we elect Kevin McCarthy" as speaker.
Scalise's speech came after Jordan nominated McCarthy. Both men have been floated as potential alternatives if McCarthy is unable to win the majority needed to clinch the speakership.
ABC News’ Ben Siegel, on the House floor, spotted Steve Scalise seemingly drafting a nomination speech for Kevin McCarthy.
This would mark another twist as Republicans still struggle to coalesce around any single candidate.
