Republican leader Kevin McCarthy edged to the cusp of becoming House speaker late on Friday night but failed a historic 14th vote.
Before the vote, Mr McCarthy had flipped 15 conservative holdouts to become supporters, including the chairman of the chamber’s Freedom Caucus, leaving him just a few shy of seizing the gavel for the new Congress.
The House gavelled in late in the night, giving time for last-minute negotiations and for absent Republican colleagues time to return to Washington if their votes were needed.
But even after two key Republican holdouts voted present to lower the tally he would need, it was not enough.
Mr McCarthy strode to the back of the chamber to confront Matt Gaetz sitting with Lauren Boebert and other holdouts. Fingers pointed, words exchanged and colleagues stared on in disbelief.
“Stay civil!” someone shouted.
Mr McCarthy had declared to reporters earlier in the day that he believed “we’ll have the votes to finish this once and for all”.
The day’s turn of events came after Mr McCarthy agreed to many of the detractors’ demands – including the reinstatement of a longstanding House rule that would allow any single member to call a vote to oust him from office.
Even if Mr McCarthy is able to secure the votes he needs, he will emerge as a weakened speaker, having given away some powers and constantly under the threat of being booted by his detractors.
But he could also be emboldened as a survivor of one of the more brutal fights for the gavel in US history. Not since the Civil War era has a speaker’s vote dragged through so many rounds of voting.
The showdown that has stymied the new Congress came against the backdrop of the second anniversary of the January 6 2021 attack on the Capitol.
At a Capitol event on Friday, some politicians, mostly Democrats, observed a moment of silence and praised officers who helped protect Congress on that day. And at the White House, Mr Biden handed out medals to officers and others who fought the attackers.
At the afternoon speaker’s vote, a number of Republicans tiring of the spectacle temporarily walked out when one of Mr McCarthy’s most ardent challengers railed against the GOP leader.
Contours of a deal with conservative holdouts who have been blocking Mr McCarthy’s rise emerged after three dismal days and 11 failed votes in an intraparty standoff unseen in modern times.
One significant former holdout, Republican Scott Perry, chairman of the conservative Freedom Caucus who had been a leader of Mr Trump’s efforts to challenge the 2020 election, tweeted after his switched vote for Mr McCarthy: “We’re at a turning point.”
Another Republican holdout, Byron Donalds of Florida, who was repeatedly nominated as an alternative candidate for speaker, switched on Friday, too, voting for Mr McCarthy.
Mr Trump may have played a role in swaying the holdouts. Mr Donalds said he had spoken to the former president who had been urging Republicans to wrap up their public dispute the day before.
Without a speaker, the chamber is unable swear in members and begin its 2023-24 session, a sign of the difficulty ahead for the new Republican majority as it tries to govern.
