BREAKING: McCarthy Comes Up One Vote Shy on 14th Ballot

Update 12:20 a.m.: Five of the holdouts, including Gaetz, have voted present, lowering the threshold for a McCarthy win. The magic number is 215. He’s currently at 176.

Update 11:42 p.m.: The House voted against a motion to adjourn until Monday and will proceed to a 15th ballot. Fox News is reporting that Matt Gaetz has agreed to vote for McCarthy. Voting is underway.

Update 11:18 p.m.: McCarthy again failed on the 14th ballot. The final tally was: McCarthy 216, Democrat Rep. Hakim Jeffries 212, others 4, present 2. The House is now voting to determine whether to adjourn until Monday or vote for a 15th time.

Update 10:05 p.m.: Voting is again underway. Stay tuned to PJ Media for additional details.

Update 3:50 p.m.: On the thirteenth ballot, McCarthy again failed to secure enough votes for a win. He picked up one additional vote this time around, Rep. Andy Harris (Md.). The rest of the holdouts voted for Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio): McCarthy 214, Jeffries 212, Jordan 6. The House is adjourned until 10 p.m. tonight.

Original story:

On the twelfth vote for speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, several of the twenty holdouts switched their votes to Kevin McCarthy’s column.

The House erupted in cheers each time a holdout voted for McCarthy, signaling their relief that the end of the protracted battle for the top position in the House may be in sight. The final tally was McCarthy 213, Hakeem Jeffries 211, and others 7, coming on the heels of tense negotiations over the last several days as a group of conservatives pressed McCarthy for changes to House rules and key leadership roles. The magic number for McCarthy had been 218 votes, but due to three absences in the House, it was lowered to 217, leaving the California Republican just four votes shy of a win. McCarthy has indicated that he wants to proceed with another vote rather than adjourn for the weekend, suggesting he believes he has the votes needed to bring the election to a conclusion.

It was reported early Friday that the dam had begun to burst, and key holdouts indeed switched their votes to McCarthy early in the afternoon. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) tweeted:

We’re at a turning point. I’ve negotiated in good faith, with one purpose: to restore the People’s House back to its rightful owners. The framework for an agreement is in place, so in a good-faith effort, I voted to restore the People’s House by voting for @gopleader McCarthy.

— RepScottPerry (@RepScottPerry) January 6, 2023

The demands of the House Freedom Caucus, which led the effort against McCarthy, included a one-member threshold on motions to “vacate the chair,” seats on the powerful House Rules Committee, a vote on a bill for term limits, and standalone votes on 12 individual appropriation bills. It’s not clear at this time which concessions McCarthy agreed to.

Representatives who flipped:

Dan Bishop (R-N.C.)
Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.)
Michael Cloud (R-Texas)
Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.)
Byron Donalds (R-Fla.)
Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.)
Mary Miller (R-Ill.)
Ralph Norman (R-S.C.)
Scott Perry (R-Pa.)
Chip Roy (R-Texas)
Keith Self (R-Texas)
Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.)
Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.)