The House of Representatives is headed into its ninth vote to determine the House speaker as 21 Republicans are withholding their support for GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.
McCarthy has yet to secure the speakership as the GOP holdouts continue to largely vote en bloc for other candidates.
Twenty of the members-elect have voted for other candidates while one has voted present — or not voting for any candidate — amid the tumultuous votes.
The 21 House Republicans who haven’t voted for McCarthy are Reps.-elect Andy Biggs of Arizona, Dan Bishop of North Carolina, Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Josh Bechreen of Oklahoma, Michael Cloud of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Eli Crane of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Bob Good of Virginia, Paul Gosar of Arizona, Andy Harris of Maryland, Ana Paulina Luna of Florida, Mary Miller of Illinois, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Andy Ogles of Tennessee, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Matt Rosendale of Montana, Chip Roy of Texas, Keith Self of Texas, Byron Donalds of Florida and Victoria Spartz of Indiana.
Spartz — who has voted present in recent rounds after initially backing McCarthy — is the one Republican of the 21 who has yet to vote for a McCarthy opponent.
Donalds has been a popular member whom the House Freedom Caucus crowd has coalesced behind, but some members have opted to vote for other candidates including Rep.-elect Kevin Hern, R-Okla., and former President Donald Trump.
The split has resulted in neither McCarthy nor Democratic Rep.-elect Hakeem Jeffries of New York having a majority vote to take the speakership, causing the House to grind to a halt and preventing each member from being sworn in or able to do any official business for the first time in a century.
The last time the House had nine votes to determine its speaker was 100 years ago in 1923.
It is unclear if McCarthy has the votes to secure the speakership in the second vote but, of the conservative candidates nominated, he has the support of the vast majority of House Republicans.
Republicans who won in districts taken by President Biden in 2020 vowed last week to keep holding votes until McCarthy is voted in as speaker.
Other GOP members-elect have also spoken out about the holdouts that have brought the House to a grinding halt.
