U.S. Rep. Bob Good, R-VA, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-AZ, Rep. Ken Buck, R-CO and Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-FL, listen to floor proceedings during the first day of the 118th Congress in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol Building on Tuesday || WIN MCNAMEE/GETTY IMAGES
By Ronald J. Hansen || Arizona Republic USA TODAY NETWORK
Rep. Andy Biggs led the effort Tuesday to block Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy from ascending to House speaker, plunging the chamber into a historic muddle with no clear favorite to guide the new GOP majority after three rounds of voting.
Biggs, R-Ariz., followed through on his long-promised challenge to McCarthy, R-Calif., and pulled in 10 votes from some of the most outspoken conservative members in the House, who had variously complained that McCarthy accommodated what they view as a political status quo.
The House adjourned without selecting a speaker after three rounds of voting Tuesday, with some of the GOP dissidents predicting their numbers would only grow. Members will reconvene Wednesday with McCarthy’s leadership future in doubt and Biggs’ reputation for an unflinching conservatism that sometimes frustrates his own party intact.
The GOP’s first day back in the majority in the House in four years ended with multiple rounds of voting on the speakership for the first time in 100 years.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, emerged as the preferred alternative to McCarthy for 19 Republicans in the second round, drawing support from Biggs and other members, many of them part of the farright House Freedom Caucus that Biggs led for two years.
For his part, Jordan nominated McCarthy in the second round and voted for him as well, even as Jordan picked up the support that initially went to Biggs.
House Democrats united behind Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who lacked the necessary majority to win the speaker’s gavel.
