Day 3 live updates: Austin area reps among those voting against McCarthy for U.S. House speaker

House adjourns as speaker vote stretches past 11th ballot, most since before the Civil War

The House of Representatives made dubious history Thursday, failing on the 11th ballot to elect a speaker as an acrimonious stalemate that has paralyzed the chamber dragged on. That's the most ballots cast in this normally pro forma election since before the Civil War.

The House adjourned Thursday night until noon Friday, hoping to buy more time for negotiations as GOP lawmakers expressed muted optimism that a deal with a rebellious Republican faction to install GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy was getting closer.

McCarthy has now failed in 11 ballots since Tuesday, as a solid core of some 20 Republicans, including Austin area Reps. Chip Roy and Michael Cloud, say they will continue to oppose him because he is too much a part of the establishment. A 12th ballot could take place as early as noon Friday.

In the meantime, the House remains without a speaker, leaving members-elect unable to do much beyond voting on McCarthy's fate and answering phones from constituents they can't help yet. They can't form committees, conduct hearings or demand federal agencies answer their requests for assistance.

GOP opponents have sunk his attempts to get enough votes to win the job. The efforts to forge a compromise could weaken the job — if he gets it — and show that governing the Republican-led House is going to be challenging this year, with infighting consuming what's been a simple one-ballot vote for the past 100 years.

- Rachel Looker, Candy Woodall, David Jackson, Ken Tran and Sarah Elbeshbishi, USA TODAY

Austin Rep. Lloyd Doggett: "Until Republican Leader McCarthy recognizes that he cannot become Speaker, we have no Republican with whom to negotiate a bipartisan resolution of this chaos."

The American-Statesman reached out to area representatives for comment on the path to securing a Speaker.

Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who has consistently stayed in line with Democrats in supporting Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York for speaker, told the American-Statesman: "While few ‘moderate’ Republicans remain in the House, I am ready to work with any who come forward to seek a bipartisan resolution and stop this dangerous Groundhog Day of Republicans doing the same wrong thing again and again and again."

Doggett expressed concern that the failure to secure a speaker now signals future challenges to reach consensus.

"My concern is not just this ongoing failure but also what it portends as we encounter upcoming challenges, such as acting for our national security through funding Ukraine’s resistance to Putin’s war crimes," Doggett wrote. "We lack a partner to defend the full faith and credit of the United States; a default on our debt would do lasting harm to our families, shaking our economic foundations."

The American-Statesman reached out to other Austin area representatives, including Reps. Chip Roy's and Michael Cloud's offices, but have not heard back.

Round 11 of voting kicks off

Round 10 of voting concludes, with holdout votes against Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California in favor of Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma.

Rep. Chip Roy told The Dispatch Thursday politicians are negotiating: "I'm not gonna talk about any of this at this point, these are momentous conversations we're having, they're serious and consequential and we're not going to negotiate this in the press, we're gonna get behind closed doors and go work for the American people."

CNN reported that members are close to a deal, where Roy is negotiating. CNN also reported this may not get McCarthy to the 218 votes he needs.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy does not have votes to win speakership in Round 8

It appears McCarthy does not have the votes needed to win the U.S. House speakership, and a ninth vote is expected. Reps. Texas Reps. Chip Roy and Michael Cloud voted for Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida again in the eighth round.

In a Thursday morning tweet, Austin Rep. Lloyd Doggett said: "The willingness of House Republicans to shut down the Legislative branch of our government this week sends a strong warning about what we can expect later this year when they have the power to shut down all branches of government."

Rep.-elect Greg Casar shared a similar message in a Thursday morning tweet, saying he was live with Democracy Now to talk about how "House Republicans have embraced extremism and division."

In a Wednesday evening interview with CNN, Austin Rep. Michael McCaul said, "Look, we want to be united as a party. We want a government moving forward. We were elected to do this. It sends a really bad message to the American people that we can't even accomplish the first step, and that is electing a speaker of the House."

Round 7 of voting shapes up to be much the same, with competing nominations for Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Byron Donalds

Round 7 of voting appears to be a dud with no choice for speaker of the House surfacing Thursday. An eighth round of voting is expected.

Rep.-elect John James of Michigan nominated Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California. James noted the longest time it has ever taken to choose a speaker was in 1856, when the House was divided over slavery. James said the matters today are not as grave as the issues that divided the House back then.

"The leading Republican nominee won then, and the leading Republican nominee will win again today," James said of McCarthy.

Rep. Dan Bishop of North Carolina nominated Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida again, who has the continuing support of Austin area Reps. Chip Roy and Michael Cloud. Their offices did not respond to the American-Statesman's requests for comment.

Austin area GOP Reps. John Carter, Michael McCaul, Pete Sessions voted for McCarthy. Democrats Rep. Lloyd Doggett, and Rep.-elect Greg Casar voted with their party to nominate Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York for speaker.

Race for House speaker:Central Texas' Chip Roy continues fight against Kevin McCarthy

Bishop's speech was met with tepid applause. Donalds appears to be on track to win almost the same number of votes. Rep. Matt Gaetz, who previously supported Donalds, voted for former President Donald Trump as speaker.

Round 7 of voting tested whether Republicans made progress in negotiations overnight Wednesday to reach consensus to elect a speaker.

In a Wednesday interview with Fox News, Roy said he and dissenting colleagues are seeking to hold enough members on the Rules Committee to block bills, saying that can be three or four of these members currently supporting Donalds.

"We want to be able to have a say on that," Roy said, calling for different rules to govern the 118th Congress that kicked off Tuesday.

"And I want to make sure that Republicans are the ones making sure that those bills get through the rules committee to the floor," Roy said. "And I want an open amendment process, and I want to be able to have the ability to make points of order on the floor if amendments aren't going to be able to be relevant, if they're not germane, etcetera."

Cloud said in a Thursday Twitter post he wanted to fix Congress and that he prayed for change.

"I know how this looks back at home," Cloud said. "I'm not unmindful to that. Sometimes it can look like chaos, but I came here to change how Washington works."

Meanwhile the House Foreign Affairs Committee, to be led by McCaul, released a news release Thursday that said the delay to choose a speaker was jeopardizing national security. The committee chairs expressed their support for McCarthy. They pointed to McCarthy's plan to counter China, investigate the withdrawal from Afghanistan, and keep the Biden administration accountable.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Day 3 live updates: Who Austin area reps are supporting for Speaker