Members of the US House of Representatives failed to select a new speaker of the House of Representatives at the meeting on Friday during the twelfth ballot.
In a surprising twist in the vote, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy walked out of the 12th vote for Speaker of the House with 213 votes, 14 of which were voted by former GOP rejections who had refused to endorse him just a day earlier.
Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Hakim Jeffreys received 211 votes, down one vote in each voting period, according to the Secretary of the House of Representatives.
The drop in Jeffries’ vote count was due to the unexpected absence of Maryland Democratic Rep. David Thrun, whose spokesman said the representative was unable to attend the vote due to a previously scheduled operation.
The seven remaining Republicans split their votes between two alternative candidates, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and Rep. Kevin Hearn of Oklahoma.
The next task for McCarthy and his aides is to remove three of the seven remaining pensioners, longtime opponents of the Republican leader.
Despite McCarthy’s leadership, he failed to garner more than half of the available votes, and with a vote of 431 members, he would need at least 216 votes to win.
According to the press gallery in the House of Representatives, deputies were recommended to prepare for the 13th vote for the post of Speaker of the House of Representatives in the near future.
Source: CNBC.