DULUTH 鈥� U.S. Rep. Pete Stauber is sticking with U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as his pick for the next speaker of the House, voting for him nine times as of Thursday afternoon, Jan. 5, the third day in which GOP House members were unable to reach the votes needed to elect a speaker.
鈥淚t鈥檚 time to elect Kevin McCarthy as speaker so we can get to work on behalf of the American people to secure our border, restore American energy dominance and rebuild a strong economy,鈥� Stauber, the Republican congressman from Hermantown said in a statement.
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Like Stauber, the other Republican representatives from Minnesota 鈥� Tom Emmer, Michelle Fischbach and Brad Finstad 鈥� have also voted for McCarthy each time.
To be elected speaker, McCarthy only needs to reach a simple majority of 218 votes if all members vote, but a handful of the party's most conservative members have refused to vote for him for three days. In the first two ballots cast Tuesday, the first day of voting, McCarthy received 203 votes. That slipped to 201 votes Wednesday and it remains there Thursday.
Republicans picked up a narrow House majority in November's midterm elections with 222 seats while Democrats have 212 seats. There is one vacant seat in the House.
In each ballot round, all 212 Democrats have voted for minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat from New York.
Failure to pick a speaker has meant the all House members have yet to be sworn in and it puts all of the actual lawmaking on hold.
It's the first time since 1923 that multiple ballots will be needed to select a speaker.
The Trust Project
