Emerging from meetings with allies Tuesday night, Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., was optimistic about ultimately winning the speaker gavel after losing three rounds of voting, and described a path to the speakership with a lower vote threshold.
"You're sitting at 202 votes, so you need technically just 11 more votes to win," McCarthy said, according to The Hill.
"Democrats have 212 votes. You get 213 votes, and the others don't say another name, that's how you can win. You can win with 218. You could win with 222. But if you want to look at how you have to go about doing it."
The speaker of the House is elected by a majority of those voting for a specific candidate, which is not necessarily all members. Absent members and those voting "present" do not count toward the total, bringing the vote threshold down.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was elected to the position with 216 votes in 2021.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, rejected the idea of McCarthy making it across the finish line with "present" votes.
"If he's literally trying to patchwork votes together, to scrape together the votes by trying to carve out 'present' votes in hopes that people don't show up or something, I just don't see that as the right path to a strong leadership position," Roy said, according to The Hill.
Roy was also skeptical that any of the 20 Republicans opposed to McCarthy would cooperate and vote "present" on Wednesday.
"I definitely don't see it," Roy reportedly said.
Despite the setbacks, McCarthy has not given up on getting to 218 votes, saying communication is the key.
"If we want to get to 218, we have to keep talking," he said.
All 434 members voted in the three rounds on Tuesday, setting the majority threshold at 218 votes. McCarthy got 203 votes and House Democrat Leader Hakeem Jeffries got 212 in the first and second ballots, while those opposed to McCarthy voted for other candidates. A 20th member joined the "Never Kevin" group in the third vote, bringing McCarthy down to 202.
It is unclear how McCarthy could persuade 11 holdouts to vote for him, while also get the other nine to not vote for another candidate.
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