By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Republican leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday said he will not drop his ambition to become the Speaker of US House of Representatives despite losing rounds of voting amidst opposition from his Republican colleagues, now in control of majority in the parliament.
The new parliament had brought its proceedings to abrupt end on Tuesday after a chaotic scenario and adjourned to Wednesday to continue the process of electing a Speaker after the resignation of Nancy Pelosi.
McCarthy vowed to fight to the finish despite a highly uncertain path ahead amid opposition from the chamber’s most conservative members.
He secured just 203 votes, falling short of the 218 brnchmak needed in the whole House in two rounds.
Democrat Hakeem Jeffries maintained a lead in the GOP-controlled chamber. McCarthy however dropped in his performance at the third round of voting when 20 Republican colleagues failed to vote for him.
He said he is encouraged by a phone call from the country’s former president, Donald Trump who wants him to stay in the race and to bring an end to the House Republican disarray and pull the party together.
“Today, is that the day I wanted to have? No,” McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol after a series of late-night closed-door meetings.
The former president “wants to see the Republicans united to be able to accomplish the exact things we said we’d do,” McCarthy said.
Asked if he would drop out, McCarthy said, “It’s not going to happen.”
It was a tumultuous start to the new Congress and pointed to difficulties ahead with Republicans now in control of the House. Tensions flared among the new House majority, and all other business came to a halt.
But it was not at all clear how the embattled McCarthy could rebound after becoming the first House speaker nominee in 100 years to fail to win the gavel with his party in the majority..
“Kevin McCarthy is not going to be a speaker,” declared Rep. Bob Good, R-Va., one of the holdouts.
As the spectacle of voting dragged on, McCarthy’s backers implored the holdouts to fall in line.
“We all came here to get things done,” the second-ranking Republican, Rep. Steve Scalise, said in a speech urging his colleagues to drop their protest.
