McCarthy and his allies had persuaded his other remaining opponents to vote “present” as well, lowering the vote total necessary for McCarthy to win and handing him the speakership by early Saturday morning — after a historic, remarkable and somewhat astonishing week of repeated votes.
“I hope one thing is clear,” McCarthy said when he finally took the gavel after 1 a.m. “I never give up.”
The scene Friday was a different kind of chaos — but it was a full-circle moment for Republicans, who had ceded both chambers of Congress and the presidency to Democrats after the violent insurrection. While many of them denounced Trump at the time, McCarthy’s Florida visit brought him back into the fold, and the former president was working the phones Friday evening, calling Gaetz and the other holdouts.
While the U.S. House is often raucous, the week’s events were almost surreal: vote after vote, defeat after defeat, and eventual success after picking off seemingly intransigent opponents. Two of McCarthy’s closest lieutenants, North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry and Louisiana Rep. Garrett Graves, sat on either side of Gaetz during the vote, with Graves at one point on his knees. But Gaetz could only be partially swayed, and stood to say “present” when the roll call reached his name. It wasn’t enough, and McCarthy approached him just before the vote was called, C-SPAN cameras tracking his short journey.
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