After refusing to support Republican heir apparent Kevin McCarthy through two days of voting and 11 ballots, rookie U.S. Rep.-elect Andy Ogles of Maury County fell in line on Friday. Ogles spent Wednesday and Thursday on the House floor voting with a small bloc of Republicans withholding the votes necessary to make McCarthy the chamber’s speaker.
Ogles, who beat Democrat Heidi Campbell in November in an open race for Tennessee’s redrawn 5th Congressional District, stuck with fringe choices Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) through 11 speaker votes. Republicans took the House in 2022 by a narrow margin, and this week’s votes demonstrate early struggles to unite the party behind a shared governing vision. In an effort to chip away at the holdouts, McCarthy agreed to a series of procedural concessions, like allowing any member to trigger a vote to recall the House speaker and requiring that bills be posted at least 72 hours before members can vote on them.
On Friday, Ogles initially missed his roll call vote, bumping his slot to the end of a 431-member list. Twelve members joined him, flipping from alternate options to support McCarthy. Ogles took the moment in the spotlight to validate his colleagues who are “negotiating in good faith” before voting for McCarthy. The shrinking contingent of Republicans, which includes Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), still blocks McCarthy from being installed as speaker after a thirteenth vote Friday afternoon.
Not since 1859 has the house taken more than 13 votes to choose a speaker.
