Despite a strong last-minute endorsement from former President Donald Trump, former Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) bid to become speaker of the House of Representatives failed again Wednesday on the chamber’s fourth ballot.
Reps. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) were nominated along with McCarthy, who received 201 votes, 16 short of the 218 needed for the victory. Jeffries was backed by all 212 Democrats, while Donalds received 20 votes.
Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) voted present, the first member of the 118th Congress to do so.
All 20 of the votes for Donalds came from the populist conservative dissidents led by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). These 20 voted for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) on the third ballot Tuesday and 19 of them—Donald backed McCarthy on the first two votes—supported Jordan on the second ballot….