Kevin McCarthy fails to win speakership after three rounds of voting | USA TODAY

GOP leader Kevin McCarthy failed to win 218 votes to become speaker of the House after three rounds of voting.

RELATED: Kevin McCarthy calls out Matt Gaetz for challenging his speaker bid

In the first two ballots McCarthy, of California, secured only 203 votes – well short of the 218 needed votes – after 19 other Republicans chose other members.

By the third ballot the GOP leader began to lose support after Rep. Byron Donalds, of Florida, changed his choice. He said McCarthy "doesn't have the votes" to win.

All three times McCarthy received fewer votes than House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, the first African American to be chosen as a leader of a major party in Congress.

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5 comments

  1. Term limits, campaign finance reform and not setting their own salaries seems the only way to save Congress as an institution.

  2. Kevin McCarthy has been wanting to become House Speaker ever since John Boehner retired, but Paul Ryan got the job, then the Democrats retook the House & Nancy Pelosi became the Speaker again. It would be the ultimate irony if Hakeem Jeffries becomes the House Speaker despite the Democrats not having the majority in the House because enough Republicans vote against McCarthy.

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