WASHINGTON: Kevin McCarthy finally picked up some momentum Friday, winning new votes on the 12th and 13th rounds of voting, but appeared still unable to get to the victory line as a few Republicans held out.

Mr McCarthy is closer to holding the speaker’s gavel, but he still doesn’t have the required 218 votes.

During the 12th and 13th rounds, he picked up 15 votes from the conservative camp, which has so far thwarted all his efforts to become the House Speaker in the 118th Congress.

Republican James Comer nominated Mr McCarthy for the 13th ballot. The 13th round had a pleasant surprise for him as his conservative opponents did not nominate an alternative to run against him. This marks the first time that has happened during this week-long standoff.

As Mr McCarthy fell just a few votes short in the most recent vote, a new vote is already under way.

Mr McCarthy, California Republican, had already lost 11 consecutive votes before Friday, making this the longest fight for the speaker’s gavel since 1859. He received 213 votes, 11 more than his previous high of 202. His Democratic rival Hakeem Jeffries received 211, one short of the 212 he received on each of the last 11 counts.

Conservative Republican Jim Jordan received four votes, while another conservative, Kevin Hern, got three. Out of the 20 conservative members of the House Republicans, 13 abstained, which once again derailed Mr McCarthy’s bid for the speakership.

Every time a conservative rose to vote for Mr McCarthy, mainstream Republicans welcomed him or her with loud cheers and clapping.

After four days of gridlock, the tide finally started turning in favour of Mr McCarthy who has made multiple concessions to hardliners within his party to win their votes. Fourteen of the holdouts in previous votes changed to back McCarthy, but it was still not enough to win the seat for him.

Earlier on Friday, Mr McCarthy resumed his protracted struggle for the speakership on the day America observed the second anniversary of the Jan 6, 2021, attack on Congress.

Some of the conservative lawmakers, who are opposing Mr McCarthy now, supported the attack. Mr McCarthy not only opposed the mobbing but also telephoned Mr Trump and asked him to withdraw his rioters.

Mr Trump, however, is now backing Mr McCarthy and has asked the conservative lobby, known as the Freedom Caucus, to vote for him. They seem to have ignored his appeal.

The conservatives are demanding a drastic curtailing of the speaker’s power, representation in powerful House committees and more budgetary powers in return for their votes.

All other business is stalled, as the House cannot take any decisions until it has a speaker to preside the proceedings.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2023