McCarthy Claims He HAS THE VOTES and Fourteenth Time Will Be the Charm in Speaker Battle
After enduring thirteen grueling rounds of votes in his quest to claim the Speaker’s gavel, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was in a notably more optimistic mood Friday afternoon when he was questioned in the Capitol hallways by CNN’s Manu Raju, predicting that he would indeed have the votes when the House reconvenes in the evening.
McCarthy has faced vociferous opposition from a varying group of his fellow House Republicans who have voted for alternative candidates in an effort to block him from the Speakership.
With the GOP retaking the House majority by only a narrow margin, McCarthy could only afford to lose four Republican votes, unless he was willing to strike a deal with Democrats — a tricky proposition with no guarantee of success and that ran the risk of alienating conservative members among his GOP supporters.
The McCarthy opponents reached a peak of 20 during several rounds of voting, but then the California Republican managed to flip several his way during the thirteenth round of voting, including Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Reps. Paul Gosar (R-AZ).
“Mr. McCarthy, do you think you have the votes to be elected Speaker tonight?” Raju asked McCarthy as he walked through the hallways.
“Yes,” McCarthy replied.
“You do?”
“Yes,” McCarthy repeated.
“And you’ll be able to flip Rosendale and Crane?” asked Raju, referring to Reps. Matt Rosendale (R-MT) and Elijah Crane (R-AZ), two of the Republicans who had voted against McCarthy in previous rounds but were viewed as more likely to be persuadable than, for example, Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) or Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who has accused McCarthy of being a “squatter” by moving his belongings into the Speaker’s office before he was officially elected.
“I’ll have the votes,” McCarthy predicted.
The House has voted to adjourn and will return for the next — and possibly last — round of votes at 10:00 pm ET. Besides flipping several votes, McCarthy is counting on several absent members who previously voted to support him being able to return in time for the evening vote, specifically Reps. Ken Buck (R-CO) and Wesley Hunt (R-TX).
Watch above via CNN.
