GOP leader Kevin McCarthy pledged Tuesday to wage a “battle on the floor” if needed to win the post of House Spaeaker in the new Congress.
McCarthy is trying to avoid being the first majority nominee for speaker in 100 years to fail to win an initial vote for the gavel.
McCarthy emerged from a contentious closed-door meeting with fellow House
Republicans unable to win over detractors and lacking the support needed to become speaker. He vowed to fight to the finish — even if it takes multiple tries in a public spectacle that would underscore divisions in his party and weaken its leadership in the first days of the new Congress.
“We may have a battle on the floor, but the battle is for the conference and the country,” McCarthy said at the Capitol.
Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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