Day four of the House Speaker Voting Marathon began with a possible deal on the table between Kevin McCarthy and Chip Roy, who represented a faction of the 20 GOP holdouts who wanted more concessions before giving McCarthy their vote.

Well, they got concessions.

“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,” Perry, chair of the conservative Freedom Caucus, tweeted during the vote. He and some other conservatives who switched their votes to McCarthy addressed reporters after the twelfth ballot, largely declining to discuss specifics of the emerging deal.”

Elements of the emerging pact between McCarthy and conservatives that Perry did confirm included a one-member threshold for forcing a vote to oust a speaker, controls on government spending and “conservative representation” in Congress — particularly on the powerful Rules Committee.”

It’s a significant show of momentum for McCarthy, with one person close to Republican leadership indicating that the number of flips exceeded internal projections. Even so, it’s unclear what more the Californian can do to placate the remaining seven Republicans opposed to his bid.”

When the House reconvened this afternoon, holding a twelfth floor vote, McCarthy’s numbers improved dramatically.

431 votes cast
McCarthy — 213 (McCarthy applauded, so did other Rs)
Jeffries — 211 (Trone missed this ballot)
Jordan — 4
Hern — 3

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 6, 2023

Obviously, those numbers still aren’t enough. And now we are running into the weekend, and into the personal lives and needs of representatives. Wesley Hunt (R-TX) had a baby who was born this week and was in the NICU, and his wife has had to go back to the hopsital as well. Kevin Hern (R-OK) is supposed to be at his mother’s funeral tomorrow. Ken Buck (R-CO) had a medical procedure done and missed the last few votes, but was expected to return to DC by Friday evening, and Hunt was planning on being back as well. One of the Democrats, David Trone (D-MD) missed the 12th ballot because he was having surgery, but has now returned.

The concessions had moved most of the holdouts into voting for McCarthy, but he still could only lose four votes. There were six “Never Kevin” holdouts.

Gaetz, Crane, Rosendale, Boebert, Biggs, Good all sitting together — 6 still-Nos

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 6, 2023

And Matt Gaetz was probably the most obnoxious of them all – I know, shocking.

Here’s the problem for Gaetz, and it’s one that he can’t get around – McCarthy may not be his choice, but no one else has a hope in hell of gaining over 200 votes to become Speaker UNLESS it’s Hakeem Jeffries. And if Matt Gaetz wanted to switch his vote there, he is free to do so. But he is trying to position himself as more MAGA than Trump, so that would never fly. Instead, he just wanted to be an attention-seeking pain in the ass.

So we went to the thirteenth floor vote. And McCarthy was now getting closer.

Latest tally — 432 votes cast

McCarthy: 214
Jeffries: 212
Jordan: 6

redoing bc still have 218 in my head, but different with those not present.

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) January 6, 2023

The House then adjourned until late tonight, and a fourteenth floor vote, when it was assumed that Hunt and Buck would be back.

At 10 pm Eastern time, the House reconvened. Would this finally be the moment that McCarthy sealed the deal? There was only two names formally entered into nomination – Kevin McCarthy and Hakeem Jeffries. The first “Never Kevin” holdout that went first was Andy Biggs, who once again voted for Jim Jordan. However, the next “Never Kevin” holdout was Lauren Boebert, who voted “present” – which meant that she is not voting, and that her vote was subtracted from the total. There were “ooohs” and applause when Boebert voted “present.”

Boebert votes present pic.twitter.com/G6g5BF0qJQ

— Acyn (@Acyn) January 7, 2023

Wesley Hunt was present to vote for Kevin McCarthy, which earned him a round of applause and a handshake from McCarthy. Meanwhile, Matt Gaetz missed his roll vote, and had to vote at the end (an opportunity afforded to everyone who misses their name when the roll is called alphabetically). So when Gaetz had his moment, he voted “present.” And Kevin McCarthy ended up falling ONE VOTE SHORT with 216 votes of 432. That’s exactly HALF of the total, and he just needed one more for the majority. If either Gaetz or Boebert had been willing to switch their “present” vote to a vote for McCarthy, it would have been over. Or, if one of the four others – Biggs, Crane, Rosendale, or Good – had voted “present,” then it would have been done.

At this point, the Republicans moved to adjourn until noon on Monday, which Democrats objected to. The vote to adjourn failed amidst a scramble on the floor, and we were off to the races for a fifteenth vote.

During round fifteen, the six holdouts voted as follows:
Biggs – present (his first time)
Boebert- present (her second time)
Crane – present (his first time)
Gaetz – present (his second time)
Good – present (his first time)
Rosendale – missed initial roll call, then voted present (his first time)
So, what happened between the fourteenth vote and the fifteenth vote?

As that commotion was just playing out on the House floor, I am told former President Trump spoke with Andy Biggs and Matt Gaetz, placing the calls as it appeared McCarthy was not going to secure the speakership tonight and the House was going to adjourn until Monday.

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) January 7, 2023

It seems that Donald Trump got in the ears of Andy Biggs and Matt Gaetz, and moved the holdouts to the “present” column. I’m sure the Democrats will be just THRILLED with that.

Well, I hope Kevin McCarthy enjoys being Speaker of the House and the trainwreck of a Republican caucus that he’s supposedly leading. It’s been a rocky start and I can’t imagine that he is going to have very smooth sailing going forward.

Featured image: Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), cropped, official photo, public domain