Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) nominated Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for Speaker of the House Wednesday afternoon at the start of the fourth ballot for the top House position.
On Tuesday, the Republican-led House held three separate ballots for the speakership, during which McCarthy failed to gain the 218 votes necessary for the gavel as a faction of some 20 Republicans voted for others in opposition to McCarthy. Democrats are relishing the GOP conflict, and the press has made hay over the power struggle, but Gallagher noted at the top of his remarks that “Democracy is messy by design.”
“But I think my friends on the Democrat side misunderstand what’s happening here,” said the representative from Wisconsin. “Sure, it looks messy, but Democracy is messy! Democracy is messy by design, and that’s a feature, not a bug, of our system.”
He then addressed his “good friend” and colleague Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and others who are opposing McCarthy and laid out his case as to why McCarthy should be the speaker.
“I know a lot of people are frustrated with the way Congress works, but nobody has done more to lay out a plan for how we restore the basic functioning of the institution than Kevin McCarthy. Nobody has done that,” Gallagher stated, referencing McCarthy’s Commitment to America plan.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), right, listens as House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks at DMI Companies in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. McCarthy joined with other House Republicans to unveil their “Commitment to America” agenda. (Barry Reeger/AP)
Gallagher contiued:
Now you may not have gotten everything you wanted. There are things that I want that I know its just not possible to get done in this Congress, but Mr. McCarthy has gone above and beyond in terms of listening to people with concerns and laying out a plan for how we restore the basic functioning of the House of Representatives. Furthermore, I believe no one has done more to bring us into the majority than Kevin McCarthy.
Listen, I wish we had a bigger majority, I wish we could do everything over the next two years, but the American people gave us an opportunity – they gave us an opportunity to inject some basic common sense into the federal government, to pull the emergency brake on a lot of the crazy we’ve seen in the last two years. They are asking us to do a job, and nobody has laid out a plan – a proactive policy agenda – for the direction we want to take this country in more detail than Kevin McCarthy. You all had an opportunity to provide input into that plan.
And the irony of this current moment and this debate we’re having is that on the big stuff we all agree, right? We want to secure the border, we don’t want the executive branch to do everything through a pen and phone. We want to work with our Democrat colleagues when it comes to standing up to our enemies abroad, there are basic things we know we need to do. It is time to get to work.
After Gallagher nominated McCarthy, Roy nominated Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL). McCarthy received 201 votes in the fourth round, while Democrat nominee Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY) garnered all 212 Democrat votes, and 20 Republicans voted for Donalds. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) voted present. A fifth round of voting looks to be on the horizon.