Kevin McCarthy fails again to win U.S. House speakership

Mr. McCarthy is under growing pressure from restless Republicans, and Democrats, to find the votes he needs or step aside, so the House can open fully and get on with the business of governing.

Pressure mounting, the Speaker's chair of the U.S. House sat empty for a third day on January 5, as Republican leader Kevin McCarthy failed anew on the seventh of an excruciating string of ballots to win enough votes from his party to seize the chamber's gavel.

One of Mr. McCarthy's steadfast critics, Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, even cast his vote for Donald Trump, a symbolic gesture, but one that highlighted the former President's influence over the Republican Party.

The seventh vote for Speaker turned out no different from the others, with Mr. McCarthy well short of the required majority.

Mr. McCarthy emerged from a morning meeting with colleagues at the Capitol determined to persuade Republican holdouts to end the stalemate that has blighted his new GOP majority.

Despite endless talks, signs of concessions and a public spectacle unlike any other in recent political memory, the path ahead remained highly uncertain. The day started as the other two have, with Republican allies nominating him for now a seventh time to be Speaker.

Republican John James of Michigan put Mr. McCarthy's name up for a vote, with a nod to history.

“My family's gone from being slaves to the floor of the United States House of Representatives” in five generations, said Mr. James, a newly-elected lawmaker to be, who is Black.