US House adjourns without new speaker a8k8 casino login registerfter three votes

A politically divided new US Congress convened on Tuesday and became even more divided as the Republican majority in the House failed to elect a speaker on the first ballot, the first time since the Civil War.

Then after California Republican Kevin McCarthy failed to secure a majority of votes on second and third ballots, the House adjourned until noon Wednesday. The last time a speaker vote went to multiple ballots was in 1923, when Speaker Frederick Gillett, a Republican from Massachusetts, won re-election on the ninth ballot.

After the second ballot, McCarthy insisted to reporters that the party is "unified''.

"This isn't about me," McCarthy said. "This is about the conference now because the members who are holding out, they want something for their personal selves."

A small but determined band of conservatives refused to drop their no votes, leaving McCarthy short of the 218 votes needed for election on the first two ballots. He got just 203 in two rounds — less than Democrat Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York in the GOP-controlled chamber — and fared even worse with 202 in round three as a supporter who had pledged to support him on the first two ballots but not the third switched to Ohio Representative Jim Jordan.

House Democrats nominated and approved Jeffries to succeed Nancy Pelosi as leader of the Democratic minority in the chamber, the first black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress.

McCarthy's opponents have coalesced around Jordan even though Jordan gave the speech nominating McCarthy for the second round of voting and asked House members not to vote for him.

Jordan is the founder of the conservative House Freedom Caucus whose members don't think McCarthy is conservative enough or tough enough to battle Democrats. They have made specific demands of McCarthy in exchange for their votes. He did meet some of their demands but refused to agree to several other conditions.

Florida Representative Matt Gaetz and Arizona Representative Andy Biggs have said they are willing to go to any length to derail McCarthy. "It is true that we struggle with trust with Mr. McCarthy because time and again his viewpoints, his positions, they shift like sands underneath you," Gaetz told reporters before Tuesday's vote. "If you want to drain the swamp, you cannot put the biggest alligator in charge of the exercise."

McCarthy has pledged a "battle on the floor" for as long as it takes, forcing multiple votes if necessary until he wins the top post.

House rules require lawmakers to keep holding votes for speaker until someone secures 218 votes or a simple majority of members voting. No other House business can occur until a speaker is selected, which means floor votes, committee hearings and other congressional work will grind to a halt if Republicans can't agree on a new leader.

Even if the 57-year-old McCarthy gets the speakership, he will be faced with deep divisions among Republicans, and the deal he has been forced into making may weaken his authority.

The speakership has been a career ambition for McCarthy, a former House staffer and minority leader of the California Assembly who rose through the ranks of the House GOP leadership team for the past 14 years.