McCarthy won only 201 of the required 218 votes, while 20 Republicans voted on Wednesday for Representative Byron Donalds, a Republican first elected in 2020. One Republican declined to back a specific candidate. All 212 Democrats in the chamber voted for Jeffries.
Opponents said the leadership battle could drag on for weeks.
Republican Representative Bob Good, one of the holdouts, said, “It’s worth taking a few days or a few weeks to get the best possible speaker.”
The vote was also a rebuke to Trump, who urged fellow Republicans to set aside their differences.
“Now is the time for all of our Great Republican House Members to vote for Kevin,” Trump wrote on his social media site Truth Social on Wednesday ahead of the vote.
Trump remains an influential figure among Republicans and is so far the only declared presidential candidate for 2024. Some in the party have blamed Trump for the Republicans’ failure to win more congressional seats in the midterms.
Republican control of the House could empower the party to thwart Democratic President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. But the impasse raised questions about whether the House will be able to meet basic obligations such as funding government operations, let alone advance other policy priorities.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Biden said of the House leadership struggle, “It’s not a good look.” “This is the United States of America, and I hope they work together.”
