January 5, 2023 GOP deadlocked over House speaker vote

Cheryl Johnson, the House clerk who has presided over the contentious votes taking place this week during the speakership elections, is no stranger to turbulent times in the House of Representatives.

Already, in the nearly four years in which she has held the job, she has been present for two impeachment hearings as well as the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Her typical duties include preparing and delivering messages to the US Senate, receiving messages from the US president and the Senate when the House is not in session, and certifying the passage of all bills and resolutions by the chamber.

Johnson was first sworn in as the 36th House Clerk by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Feb. 25, 2019, and again on Jan. 3, 2021. Along with the House Sergeant at Arms, she led House impeachment managers as they walked over articles of impeachment against Donald Trump to the US Senate in 2020 and 2021.

Since John Beckley was elected as the first House clerk on April 1, 1789, Johnson is one of only four women to hold the title and the second Black person in the role.

Read more.

GOP Rep. Pete Sessions of Texas said Republicans have had a "breakthrough" in negotiations that are set to possibly take place Thursday night. The proposed deal would help "reduce" the number of lawmakers who are voting against McCarthy, he told CNN Thursday.

McCarthy has already failed to reach a majority of the vote for 10 straight rounds of voting that have taken place over the last three days.

He said the process has been "longer than what we would have wanted," saying that the fact that debate is happening in such a public setting makes it more difficult.

"I think getting three or four, five more people will be progress," he said, but added that a group of around seven or eight lawmakers will "never yield" to McCarthy. Sessions hopes, though, that if some of the hardliners take a deal, that could influence others.

Lawmakers are already starting to consider the negotiations: Rep. Ralph Norman, one of those key holdouts, says there’s an offer “on paper” and he has been invited to come look at it. He walked into the whip’s office to review it.

CNN's Melanie Zanona contributed reporting to this report.

Hear Rep. Pete Sessions:

Rep. Kevin McCarthy appears to suffer a historic defeat in the 10th ballot for House speaker as more than five Republicans opposed his bid.

The current bid for House leadership is now the longest speaker contest in 164 years.

A group of hardline Republicans have so far derailed McCarthy's bid to become House speaker — even after McCarthy reportedly proposed major concessions late Wednesday.

No member of Congress can be sworn in until a House Speaker is elected.

Why CNN says "appears to" suffer a defeat before the gavel goes down: Members-elect have the ability to change their votes before the vote is gaveled over. CNN is following along and tallying the voice votes as they happen, but it's important to be clear that anything could technically change before the vote ends. 

Negotiators between the Kevin McCarthy allies and opponents are pushing for a deal tonight in attempt to show progress, according to a source in talks.

They believe they have made significant progress, but they are still haggling over some of the details. 

This is what is complicating matters: At least four Republican members are leaving town Friday because of various family issues. 

So the hope is that they can have some sort of agreement tonight and then can have a deal to adjourn at some point over the next 24 hours and come back Monday, a separate source says.

We can't call it the longest House speaker contest in 100 years anymore. Now that we're through nine ballots, tying the 1923 process, it's the longest contest in 164 years, since the Congress during which states began seceding from the Union to kick off the Civil War.

It will take a long time to break any more records. The 1859 speaker contest went to 44 ballots before Rep. William Pennington, a Republican from New Jersey, won the post. An anomaly, Pennington only served in one Congress, the one where he was speaker, and lost a bid for reelection. He's one of just three speakers to be thrown out of office by voters.

The US House of 1859 was a very different place. Pennington's Republicans had the most members, with 116. But they did not have a majority of the 238 total members. There were also 83 Democrats, 19 Opposition Party members, eight Anti-Lecompton Democrats, seven Independent Democrats and five members of the American Party.

In the following Congress, which started in 1861, after Southern states seceded, House membership went down from 238 to 183 and Republicans had a very strong majority.

Here's how this House speaker vote compares to those of the past:

GOP Reps. Byron Donalds and Kevin Hern and Democratic Rep. Hakeem Jeffries were nominated for House speaker in the 10th round of voting, along with Kevin McCarthy.

In Rep. Anna Paulina Luna's speech nominating Donalds, she said that "Byron through this entire time has done something I think most leaders should do more of, and that is listen. Respect people when they're talking. Understand the needs of the American people. Be willing to take negotiations but also too to realize when is a proper time to stand your ground on certain things."

Rep. Lauren Boebert again threw Hern's name into the ring, calling him "a true leader" who can unify the conference.

Jeffries was again put forward on the Democratic side by Rep. Pete Aguilar.

Democrats are telling their members to prepare for a potentially long night, per a senior Democratic aide. 

CNN's Lauren Fox contributed reporting to this post.

The House is now voting to elect a speaker — for the tenth time. This tenth round makes this the longest speaker contest in 164 years.

Aside from Kevin McCarthy, Reps. Byron Donalds and Kevin Hern have also been nominated again in this round.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy has now been nominated in the 10th round of voting as the House works to break a stalemate and elect a new speaker. He was nominated by Rep.-elect Juan Ciscomani.

Ciscomani said McCarthy “cares about the American people. He cares about our country.”

Ciscomani talked about his family coming to the United States from Mexico, saying, "I trust Kevin to fight for that American dream."

Ciscomani will be the first Latino Republican elected to Congress from Arizona. Ciscomani previously worked at the Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and was a senior adviser to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

Ongoing stalemate: McCarthy has come up short for the last nine ballots, despite making more concessions to hardliners. Two other Republicans — Rep. Byron Donalds and Rep. Kevin Hern — were also nominated during the last vote in opposition to McCarthy.

Kevin McCarthy was defeated again in the ninth round of voting for House speaker after he lost multiple votes to Reps. Byron Donalds and Kevin Hern. A tenth round would be the longest speaker contest in 164 years.

McCarthy still had 20 total GOP lawmakers voting against him, and GOP Rep. Victoria Spartz voted present again. Rep. Ken Buck, who has supported McCarthy, did not vote this round. Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries had the unanimous support of his caucus.

The final tally was:

Remember: No member of the new Congress can be sworn in to office without a speaker of the House voted in. A group of hardline Republicans have so far derailed McCarthy's bid to become House speaker — even after McCarthy reportedly proposed major concessions late Wednesday.