Kevin McCarthy may be inching closer to election as speaker of the House of Representatives.
As of Friday afternoon, the Republican congressman from California had won over 14 of the 20 Republican representatives and representatives-elect who opposed his candidacy for the speakership.
The internal opposition to McCarthy’s bid was led primarily by the conservative House Freedom Caucus, including many prominent allies of former President Donald Trump.
By the end of the day Thursday, McCarthy had offered a number of new concessions to the opposing camp, as The Dallas Express previously reported.
These included lowering the threshold for a motion to vote out the speaker to just one member, and creating seats for Freedom Caucus members on the powerful House Rules Committee. Also agreed upon were a 72-hour delay between the introduction of a bill and any vote on it, and an effort to impose term limits via constitutional amendment.
Rep. Scott Perry (PA), the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, announced that he would vote for McCarthy early Friday afternoon.
“We’re at a turning point,” Perry shared via Twitter. “I’ve negotiated in good faith, with one purpose: to restore the People’s House back to its rightful owners. The framework for an agreement is in place, so in a good-faith effort, I voted to restore the People’s House by voting for … McCarthy.”
Also among the 14 who flipped to McCarthy on Friday were Texas Reps. Chip Roy and Michael McCloud, as well as Rep.-elect Keith Self, the former county judge of Collin County.
Still voting against McCarthy are Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ), Lauren Boebert (CO), Eli Crane (AZ), Matt Gaetz (FL), Bob Good (VA), and Matt Rosendale (MT).
Some in that group have indicated that they will not change their position, with Rep. Gaetz saying Wednesday that he would not vote for McCarthy “under almost any circumstance.”
The House is expected to reconvene for a 14th round of voting at 9 p.m. CT. All other things being equal, McCarthy would need two of the six holdouts to throw their support behind him in order to win the speakership.
