Trump called to support McCarthy in the election for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has recommended that his fellow party members in the House of Representatives support Kevin McCarthy’s candidacy for Speaker of the House. He posted a statement to that effect Wednesday on his Truth Social network.

Trump said Republican lawmakers should “vote for Kevin, close the deal and win.” “Republicans, don’t turn a magnificent triumph into a huge humiliating defeat,” the former president said. “Kevin McCarthy will do a good job, perhaps even a great job.”

Last Tuesday, McCarthy, who is the Republican leader in the lower house of Congress, again failed to garner majority support in the third round of the House speaker election. His main rival, Democratic nominee Hakeem Jeffries, won 212 votes, while McCarthy, despite his party’s control of the lower house, received only 202, the number necessary to win by 218 votes. Meanwhile, in the third round, the number of Republicans who did not support their leader rose to 20, up from 19 in the second and first rounds. All of them backed another one-term incumbent, Jim Jordan.

The election for speaker of the House of Representatives was not limited to one round for the first time in a century. The last time such a situation occurred was in 1923. Then it took as many as nine rounds of voting to elect a speaker. This time, too, the election will continue until one of the candidates gets enough votes. The House of Representatives will resume meeting on Wednesday at noon.

McCarthy had to make a number of concessions to try to convince congressmen to endorse him. In particular, he agreed to certain restrictions concerning the terms and conditions of his stay as speaker. A number of Republicans, however, said they believed these steps were insufficient.

A midterm election was held in the United States last November 8. According to their results, the Republican Party won a majority in the House of Representatives, while the Democrats retained control of the Senate.