Top GOP Congressman Looks to Fox News, Ben Shapiro ‘Beating Up’ on McCarthy Holdouts to End Deadlock: ‘Maybe That’ll Move it’

AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA) suggested criticism from Fox News hosts and commentator Ben Shapiro could end the deadlock after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) failed to be elected House speaker after three rounds of voting.

McCarthy fell short of the votes needed to secure the job Tuesday. During the third round, 20 members of his own party voted against him and for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).

Jordan is supporting McCarthy’s bid to lead the 118th Congress, as are more than 200 other Republicans. Max Cohen of Punchbowl News reported after the third voting round Reschenthaler commented that perhaps Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Shapiro could sway the holdouts.

Cohen reported:

Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, who’s poised to be chief deputy whip, on what could possibly swing the 19 Jordan voters: “We’ll see what happens when Tucker and Sean Hannity and Ben Shapiro start beating up on these guys. Maybe that’ll move it.”

After the third round of voting Tuesday, a motion was passed to adjourn until noon ET on Wednesday.

Republicans will have until then to attempt to coalesce around a single candidate, but it remains unclear if they will be able to do so. McCarthy has supporters who have said they will not support another person for speaker.

But the California Republican’s opponents also number more than the four votes he can afford to lose if all members of the House are present. Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Chip Roy (-R-TX), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) are each staunchly opposed to McCarthy as speaker.

During the first two votes, they were joined in voting against him by 14 others. Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) voted for McCarthy during the first two rounds but against him in the third.