New Congress live updates: What's next after Kevin McCarthy's speakership win

McCarthy finally won the speaker's gavel after historic 15 rounds of voting.

ByLibby Cathey, Alexandra Hutzler, Tal Axelrod, and Benjamin Siegel
Last Updated: January 9, 2023, 8:14 AM EST

The House Republican leadership standoff ended early Saturday morning with Kevin McCarthy winning the speaker's gavel on a historic 15th vote.

It was the longest such election since 1859.

The drama stretched into a fourth day Friday with three more failed votes to decide on a speaker after 11 others over Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday -- the last one ending in a heated one-vote loss at the hands of holdout Matt Gaetz.

McCarthy had been stymied by a small group of hardliners demanding concessions to reshape how the House is run and legislation it prioritizes.

Latest headlines:

Here's how the story is developing. All times Eastern.
Jan 05, 2023, 9:52 PM EST

Trump suffers lopsided political defeat after being nominated as speaker

Donald Trump was formally nominated for House speaker on Thursday -- and the former president went on to win only one vote in the most recent round of the ongoing contest.

The 11th round of the speaker votes resulted in Trump’s most lopsided defeat of his political career, losing 200-13-6-1 (among Republicans), not to mention 212 Democrats who voted against him.

The math works out to only 0.45% of the House Republican conference voting for Trump for speaker. For his part, he has endorsed GOP leader McCarthy, who has so far been unsuccessful in persuading a minority of his party to back him.

Trump's lone vote? Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.

-ABC News' John Parkinson

Jan 05, 2023, 8:20 PM EST

House adjourns after 3 days of failed votes

House Republicans successfully, though narrowly, voted on Thursday night to adjourn until noon on Friday following another day of unsuccessfully trying to choose a speaker.

Talks are ongoing between leader McCarthy and his critics. But the five rounds of votes on Thursday repeatedly showed the same results as Tuesday and Wednesday: McCarthy is opposed by 20 members of his party, depriving him of the gavel.

The vote to adjourn 'til Friday was 219-213, with Democrats and one Republican opposed.

-ABC News' Adam Carlson

Jan 05, 2023, 7:59 PM EST

Republicans attempt to adjourn until Friday

Following another failed vote for speaker, at the end of the third day of deliberations, Republicans moved to adjourn the House until noon on Friday.

Democrats vocally opposed the motion, leading every lawmaker to have to cast an electronic ballot.

The vote is ongoing.

ABC News' Adam Carlson

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries talks with Rep. Nancy Pelosi during the eighth vote to elect a speaker in Washington, Jan. 5, 2023.
Alex Brandon/AP

Jan 05, 2023, 7:54 PM EST

McCarthy loses 11th round of voting

McCarthy on Thursday night lost the 11th round of voting for House speaker, with little proven progress despite rumors of a coming agreement with his critics.

McCarthy won 200 votes, while House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York won 212. 12 Republicans voted for Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., and seven more voted for Rep. Kevin Hern, R-Okla. Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., voted for former President Donald Trump, and Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., voted "present."

Given that no person clinched an outright majority of votes, a speaker was not elected.

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