Jeffries wins more votes than McCarthy in first round of Speaker contest

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), the incoming House Democratic leader, won nine more votes than House Republican Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) in Tuesday’s first ballot vote for Speaker.

Jeffries won 212 votes in the first ballot to just 203 for McCarthy, but that doesn’t mean he’ll become Speaker.

Neither Jeffries nor McCarthy secured the majority of votes necessary to secure the Speakership, or 218 ballots with all members of the House present and voting.

The Speaker election now kicks immediately into a second vote, giving McCarthy another chance to secure a majority.

The process will continue until a nominee snags the needed majority of votes. 

It’s the first time in a century that the Speaker election has needed multiple rounds of voting, notching another historic moment in an unprecedented midterm cycle. 

Nineteen Republicans voted against McCarthy, with 10 votes going to Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a signal of rifts within the party as it takes power in the lower chamber.  

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) secured six votes, and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.) each received one vote. No members voted “present” or were absent.

Jordan in a dramatic speech ahead of the second ballot vote urged GOP lawmakers to support McCarthy’s bid for the Speakership.

Republicans in the new Congress control a slim majority of 222 seats — a margin that has proved a challenge for McCarthy as he jockeys for the Speakership, with little room to lose any votes from his own party.

Democrats control 212 seats, plus a vacant seat left by the death of former Rep. Donald McEachin (D-Va.).