Fifteen House Republicans flipped their votes for Kevin McCarthy—a breakthrough for the congressman, although not enough to secure him the speakership.
On Friday, McCarthy convinced 15 of his 20 defectors to elect him as the next speaker of the House after struggling to make ground over three days of voting. On the 12th ballot, however, the majority of McCarthy’s critics changed their votes and backed him for the gavel. Then on the 13th vote, another Republican flipped.
Representative Dan Bishop was the first to flip his vote for McCarthy. It was met with a standing ovation from the GOP conference, with many members cheering loudly for the decision. Each House Republican who flipped for McCarthy proceeded to receive their own standing ovation.
Representative Victoria Spartz, who voted for McCarthy on the first three ballots before voting “present,” also received a standing ovation for voting for the California Republican on Friday. She previously said she switched to present to “help with deliberation.”
While McCarthy was able to persuade most of his colleagues to vote for him, Representatives Andy Biggs, Lauren Boebert, Eli Crane, Matt Gaetz, Bob Good and Matt Rosendale remained firmly opposed to his speakership
Representative Andy Harris had voted for Jordan on the 12th vote but flipped to McCarthy by the 13th.
With only a slim majority, McCarthy cannot lose more than four GOP votes if he wants the gavel. This means he will need to continue discussions with the six Republicans voting against him and hope he can flip another two votes.
Over the last three days, McCarthy has engaged in overnight negotiations with members of the House Freedom Caucus to no avail. But Thursday night’s conversations seemed to finally move the needle. Several of the key holdouts who flipped for McCarthy cited the “good faith” negotiations for their decision.
Ahead of Friday’s vote, McCarthy had told reporters on the Hill, “We’re going to make progress today. We’re going to shock you. We’re going to get it done.”
“We are making progress,” Representative Keith Self told the House floor before flipping his vote.
Here is the full list of House Republicans who flipped their votes in favor of McCarthy:
- Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)
- Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas)
- Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)
- Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.)
- Rep. Michael Cloud (R-Texas)
- Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.)
- Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.)
- Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.)
- Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.)
- Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
- Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), from present
- Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.)
- Rep.-elect Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.)
- Rep.-elect Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.)
- Rep.-elect Keith Self (R-Texas)
