Leader Kevin McCarthy‘s (R-CA) allies and detractors alike signaled optimism on Thursday evening as negotiations unfolded over what it would take to sway a group of 20 Republican holdouts keeping McCarthy from securing the speaker’s gavel.
Several negotiators told reporters McCarthy had put concessions on paper as voting on the 10th and 11th ballots dragged on, with McCarthy coming up short. The deal appears to be progress for McCarthy but by no means is a breakthrough for his camp.
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“I think this conference will be happy with where these discussions are and where they’re going to take us,” said Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), a McCarthy ally. “It’s all been about process in substance, and that’s where we are.”
“Phase one. Round one. It’s on paper. It’s got some good things in it,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who has opposed McCarthy on every vote, told the Washington Examiner on Thursday.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a conservative who backs McCarthy and is helping bridge the negotiations, told the Washington Examiner, “I’m optimistic. I’m always optimistic,” and that there’s been “progress, progress, progress.” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), whom the dissenters backed on Tuesday despite his own support for McCarthy, said the talks had been “productive.” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), another McCarthy alternative, agreed that talks had been productive.
McCarthy already made major concessions on Wednesday night, including allowing for one member to act on the motion to vacate the chair, placing more conservative hard-liners on the House Rules Committee, promising votes on key bills, and keeping Republican political action committees out of primary races for safe GOP seats.
The risk of further acquiescing to conservatives’ requests is alienating centrists. The House voted to adjourn shortly after 8 p.m. Thursday and will reconvene at noon Friday. Until then, all factions of the GOP will keep negotiating, including on a conference call Friday morning.
Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) have said they don’t trust McCarthy to govern conservatively enough, and if lawmakers such as Reps. Bob Good (R-VA), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ) join them, the numbers would still keep him from reaching a simple majority of the House.
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One of the signals things might be going better for McCarthy was that his opponents, while unified against him, were not unified with each other throughout the five Thursday votes. On the 10th ballot, seven of the detractors voted for Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK) and 13 for Donalds. All 20 were still voting for Donalds on the seventh ballot Thursday morning, but Boebert led the charge in changing some support in favor of Hern, who chairs the Republican Study Committee and could have a better chance of winning if McCarthy dropped out than Donalds.
The speaker election has not needed more than one ballot since 1923.
