epublican leader Kevin McCarthy was failing anew to win the House speakership Wednesday in dramatic fourth round voting as the chamber plunged into Day Two of the new Congress with no end in site to the political chaos Republicans have created. McCarthy fared no better than he did on opening day ballots as conservative holdouts rejected him with their votes. No minds appeared to have changed, and he was falling far short of the 218 votes typically needed to win the gavel. The California Republican vowed to keep fighting despite losing in multiple rounds of voting that threw the new majority into tumult a day earlier. The House gaveled in at noon, and a McCarthy ally quickly re-nominated him for the job with a rousing speech designed to peel off detractors. “Sure, it looks messy,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, R-Wis. But democracy is messy, he said. “The American people are in charge.” McCarthy himself entered the chamber saying, “We’ll have another vote.” But the dynamic proved no different from Day One, as Democrats re-upped their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, for speaker, and a right-flank leader from the Freedom Caucus offered a challenge to McCarthy — nominating Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., in another history making moment. Both Jeffries and Donalds are Black. “This country needs leadership,” said Rep. Chip Roy, the Texas Republican noting the first time in history two Black Americans were nominated for the high office, and lawmakers from both parties rose to applaud. It was the first time in 100 years that a nominee for House speaker could not take the gavel on the first vote, but McCarthy appeared undeterred. Instead, he vowed to fight to the finish, encouraged, he said, by former President Donald Trump to end the disarray and pull the Republican Party together. Early Wednesday, Trump publicly urged Republicans to vote for McCarthy: “CLOSE THE DEAL, TAKE THE VICTORY,” he wrote on his social media site. He added: “REPUBLICANS, DO NOT TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT.” The House tried again on Wednesday after Tuesday’s stalemate essentially forced all other business to a standstill, waiting on Republicans to elect a speaker. “Today, is that the day I wanted to have? No,” McCarthy told reporters late Tuesday at the Capitol after a series of closed-door meetings. Asked if he would drop out, McCarthy said, “It’s not going to happen.” President Joe Biden, departing the White House for a bipartisan event in Kentucky with Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, said “the rest of the world is looking” at the scene on the House floor. “I just think it’s really embarrassing it’s taking so long,” Biden said. “I have no idea” who will prevail. The disorganized start to the new Congress pointed to difficulties ahead with Republicans now in control of the House. Tensions flared among the new House majority as their campaign promises stalled out. Without a speaker, the House cannot fully form — swearing in its members, naming its committee chairmen, engaging in floor proceedings and launching investigations of the Biden administration. Lawmakers’ families had waited around, as what’s normally a festive day descended into chaos, with kids playing in the aisles or squirming in parents’ arms. But it was not at all clear how the embattled GOP leader could rebound to […]

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