New Congress live updates: What's next after Kevin McCarthy's speakership win

McCarthy finally won the speaker's gavel after historic 15 rounds of voting.

ByLibby Cathey, Alexandra Hutzler, Tal Axelrod, and Benjamin Siegel
Last Updated: January 9, 2023, 8:14 AM EST

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.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the story is developing. All times Eastern.
Jan 03, 2023, 5:39 PM EST

McCarthy defector calls for 'huddle' to sort out speaker vote

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., who changed his vote for speaker in the third round, said on social media that "continuous votes aren't working."

Donalds supported McCarthy during the first two rounds of voting, but then switched his choice to Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. On Twitter, Donalds indicated that he does not believe McCarthy has the support to ultimately become speaker.

"Our conference needs to recess and huddle and find someone or work out the next steps...but these continuous votes aren't working for anyone," Donalds wrote.

"When the dust settles, we will have a Republican Speaker, now is the time for our conference to debate and come to a consensus."

"Democracy is messy at times, but we will be ready to govern on behalf of the American people. Debate is healthy," he added.

Jan 03, 2023, 5:07 PM EST

McCarthy loses a supporter -- and 3rd round of speaker vote

In the third round of voting, 20 Republican lawmakers voted against McCarthy for speaker -- the highest amount so far. Those votes went to Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio.

In the first two rounds, 19 Republicans voted for a different candidate. Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., voted for McCarthy two times before changing his vote to Jordan.

McCarthy received 202 votes in the latest round, making it the third time he’s trailed Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. Democrats have already elected Jeffries to be their caucus leader in the new Congress.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy moves through the House Chamber in between roll call votes for Speaker of the House of the 118th Congress at the U.S. Capitol, Jan. 3, 2023, in Washington.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Jan 03, 2023, 5:06 PM EST

McCarthy getting fewer votes now than in 2021, when GOP was in minority

McCarthy has so far gotten fewer votes to be speaker in each round on Tuesday than he did when the last Congress convened in 2021.

In 2021, when Republicans were in the minority, McCarthy got 209 votes from every Republican voting. In the three rounds Tuesday, with voting continuing, he got 203, 203 and 202.

Jan 03, 2023, 4:48 PM EST

Ocasio-Cortez explains conversation with GOP Rep. Gosar

On social media, some attentive viewers were quick to notice a conversation between Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Republican Rep. Paul Gosar on Tuesday afternoon amid the ongoing speaker votes. Ocasio-Cortez has previously criticized Gosar for a now-deleted social media video that showed animated violence against her.

Ocasio-Cortez explained the interaction to ABC News, saying that House GOP leader McCarthy had reportedly made claims within his conference that he could convince some Democratic members to leave the chamber, lowering the threshold needed to elect McCarthy as speaker.

Gosar, who has not been voting for McCarthy, sought clarification from her, she said.

"We would never do that," Ocasio-Cortez said.

-ABC News' Gabe Ferris

Related Topics

Sponsored Content by Taboola