Republican Kevin McCarthy speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill –
The Republican has 214 endorsements and is just four away from being elected
More than a dozen Republicans who voted against him in previous ballots have now backed him.
California Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy lost this Friday which is already the thirteenth vote to lead the House of Representatives from the United States Congress despite reaching a new support compared to the previous one that took place a few hours before, for what reason It now has 15 new supports, bringing it closer to the long-awaited figure of 218 supports to take the position.
McCarthy got 214 votes thanks to this new endorsement, compared to 212 for Democrat Hakeem Jeffriessince Congressmen Jim Jordan and Kevin Hern – who presented themselves in previous votes – were not selected as candidates this time, according to information from the television channel CNN.
The favorite to lead the House of Commons needs to garner more support from the Republican ranks to finally win a qualified majority.
Shortly after the vote and with the prospect of the process dragging on, McCarthy has expressed confidence he will finally be elected tonight. “I have the votes,” he said when asked about the possibility of getting Republican congressmen Matt Rosendale and Eli Crane to finally endorse him.
In this sense, he stressed that when the plenary session resumes at 10 p.m., “I’ll have enough votes to end this once and for all“. “That it took so long taught us how to govern. So now we know how to do it,” he said, despite six Republican congressmen voting against him again.
Sources close to the matter assure that the Republican congressman still needs the vote of one of the six Republicans who continue to oppose his election in order to secure a qualified majority, although the number will vary depending on the number of voters voted by the congressmen.
The four days of voting paralyzed the functioning of the House of Representatives and triggered a legislative crisis unprecedented in more than 150 years.