The House of Representatives adjourned on Thursday evening for the third night after failing to elect a speaker.
Republican California Rep. Kevin McCarthy received 200 votes for the second straight ballot, leaving him 17 votes short of ascending to the gavel. Florida Rep. Byron Donalds received 12 votes, and Oklahoma Rep. Kevin Hern garnered seven. Incoming House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries again received all 212 Democratic votes.
Indiana Rep. Victoria Spartz voted “present” for the seventh straight ballot, while Colorado Rep. Ken Buck missed his second straight ballot after leaving Washington, D.C. for a medical procedure. Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz voted for former President Donald Trump. (RELATED: Here Are The 21 Republicans Who Aren’t Voting For McCarthy)
🚨 NEW: Sources tell us a deal between MCCARTHY and his opponents is close.
CHIP ROY and PATRICK MCHENRY have been negotiating it
All the big players are now in TOM EMMER’s 1st floor office.
RALPH NORMAN says he expects an offer in writing tonight
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 5, 2023
The lower chamber voted along party lines to adjourn after the vote amid further negotiations on a rules package between McCarthy’s team and GOP holdouts Chip Roy of Texas and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman described the offer as “round one.”
“It’s on paper, which is a good thing,” Norman said, before voting for Donalds.
The 2023 speaker race is now tied with the 1821 vote for the fifth-longest in American history. The longest vote, in 1855, went 133 ballots. The lower chamber will reconvene at 12 p.m. on Friday.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.