House Speaker Debate Continues To Fifth Round As McCarthy Loses Votes To Florida Rep. Donalds

The debate over who will wield the speaker's gavel in the U.S. House of Representatives continues.  

Far-right lawmakers once again blocked Republican Kevin McCarthy’s attempts to become speaker of the House on Wednesday in two separate voting sessions. 

On Wednesday, McCarthy scored 201 votes in the fourth and fifth rounds. Victoria Spartz, who represents Indiana's 5th congressional district, voted "present" in both rounds.

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If enough Republicans vote "present," Democrat Hakeem Jeffries could be elected speaker with just the 212 votes he continues to tally.

The results follow a dramatic Tuesday in which McCarthy fell short of clinching the needed 218 votes three times, despite the fact that Republicans hold a slim majority in the House.

On the first two ballots, 19 Republicans opposed McCarthy.

On the third ballot, the number of those opposed went to 20.

During the second round of votes, Republican Congressman Jim Jordan voiced support for McCarthy. Republican Matt Gaetz, however, stood up to nominate Jordan instead.

By Wednesday, there was a shift: Texas Rep. Chip Roy — one of the 20 who voted for Jordan and against McCarthy on Jan. 3 — chose to nominate Rep. Byron Donalds (pictured below) of Southwestern Florida.

Nineteen other representatives, including Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, voted for Donalds in the fourth round (Boebert even suggested that former U.S. President Donald Trump should switch support from McCarthy to Donalds).

Donalds also received 20 votes in the fifth round.

Meanwhile, Democrats remained unanimous in their support for Jeffries, a representative of New York's 8th congressional district. Still, they are reportedly frustrated for being unable to carry out constituent services and appoint committee members due to the Republican stalemate.

It's worth noting the speaker does not need to be a member of Congress.

This is the first time in a century that it has taken more than one ballot to elect a speaker. In 1923, it took nine ballots. Before that, in 1856, it took 163 rounds of voting — two months.

Image via Shutterstock.