McCarthy Ever so Close, Says He’s Confident of Imminent Victory in the Speaker Race

Representative-elect Chip Roy (R-Texas), with fellow Republicans Mary Miller (R-Ill.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), talking to reporters in Statuary Hall after switching their support for Speaker of the House to Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) during the fourth day of elections at the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, on Jan. 6, 2023. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Rep. Kevin McCarthy was within two or three votes of winning the marathon race to become Speaker of the House when the Republican majority voted on Jan. 6 to adjourn until 10 pm.

The adjournment is meant to give McCarthy and his team time to find a way to switch enough of the last six holdouts in a group of 20 populist conservative Members who have opposed the California Republican from the outset of the Speaker contest since on Jan. 3.