The primary Republican candidate to succeed outgoing US Speaker Nancy Pelosi has embarrassingly failed to gain sufficient support within his party.
In what is shaping up to be a bloody fight within the Republican party, Kevin McCarthy lost three rounds of votes as extreme extremists rebelled against him.
Extremists, who make up fewer than one-tenth of the Republican caucus, did not support Mr. McCarthy with the overwhelming majority of House Republicans.
Mr. McCarthy fell short of the 218-vote majority required to succeed Nancy Pelosi as Speaker three times.
The House failed to elect a Speaker on the first ballot for the first time in a century.
The House of Representatives adjourned without a new Speaker being elected.
Mr. McCarthy had served as House minority leader and intended to become speaker, second in line of succession to the US presidency. However, his party's right flank opposed him vigorously.
On the first two ballots, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries defeated Mr. McCarthy by a margin of 212 to 203 votes, with 19 Republicans opting for other candidates.
To determine the speaker, a majority, not a plurality, of those who vote is required.
In the second round, popular conservative Representative Jim Jordan attempted to garner support for California Republican Kevin McCarthy, only to be nominated by McCarthy's opponent, Florida's Matt Gaetz.
In a passionate statement on the House floor, Mr. Jordan declared, "We must rally around him."
I believe Kevin McCarthy is the best person to lead us.
Mr. Jordan, 58, is a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump and a co-founder of the House Freedom Caucus.
A former college wrestler representing a congressional district in Ohio, Jordan had been mentioned as a potential alternative candidate for speaker. Instead, it supported Mr. McCarthy while preparing to supervise the House Judiciary Committee's investigation of the Justice Department and FBI under President Joe Biden.
It was an unsettling beginning for Mr. McCarthy's new majority and underlined the difficulties. Republicans may face in the next two years leading up to the 2024 presidential race.
In November's midterm elections, Republicans earned a thin 222-212 majority, meaning that Mr. McCarthy — or any speaker contender will need to unite a contentious caucus to win the gavel.
Senate Democrats hold a razor-thin majority.
A protracted Speaker race might impede the House Republican's ability to move swiftly on objectives such as probes into Biden's administration and family and economic, energy independence, and border security legislation.
A standoff would largely paralyze the House and might push lawmakers to examine other choices, including new Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Mr. Jordan.
Any Republican Speaker will have the difficult task of managing an increasingly conservative House Republican caucus with authoritarian tendencies and — at least among some legislators — close ties to Donald Trump.
The vote was the first time in a century that a nominee for House speaker did not win on the first ballot.
In the 1850s, 133 voting rounds were held over two months to elect a House speaker.
The Democrats picked Jeffries to serve as minority leader after Ms. Pelosi, the first woman to serve as speaker, indicated that she would step aside from her leadership role.
She will retain her representative position.
