WASHINGTON, D.C. — The 118th Congress convened Tuesday, as the House failed to elect a speaker on the first vote for the first time in 100 years.
The House voted to adjourn for the day Tuesday evening after a third vote did not find a winner. It is expected to reconvene Wednesday at 11 a.m. CT. The third vote yielded 212 votes for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), 202 votes for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and 20 votes for Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Going into Tuesday, McCarthy, the House’s current minority leader, was the odds-on favorite to take the speaker’s chair.
Republican Rep. Kevin Hern, who represents Oklahoma’s first Congressional district, told FOX23 prior to the House vote that he supports McCarthy and believes McCarthy will be the House Speaker.
“When you look at what Leader McCarthy has done, certainly in the last four years to get us back to this position of having the opportunity of getting back to the majority, he certainly has spent enough time and raised enough money to compete with the Democrats and certainly here we are,” said Hern. “So I will be voting for him to be Speaker of the House.”
Republican Representative-Elect Josh Brecheen, who represents Oklahoma’s second Congressional district, released a statement after voting for Jordan and Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.), against McCarthy for House Speaker.
“After 40-year high inflation—tied to $31 trillion indebtedness that was half that amount just a decade ago—we need a Speaker who is committed to transformative spending reform,” said the statement. “Though Leader McCarthy offered some positive rule changes to the House Freedom Caucus, of which I associate, they are not concrete reforms that will lead to a true change in our trajectory towards bankruptcy.”
Oklahoma’s three other representatives, Stephanie Bice, Tom Cole and Frank Lucas, all voted for McCarthy.
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