U.S. House Without Speaker After Third Day of Voting

U.S. Congress remains gridlocked after three days of voting did not result in a majority for any candidates for Speaker of the House. While Republicans hold more than half of the seats in the House of Representatives, the party's votes have consistently been split over 11 rounds of voting, as members of the far-right freedom caucus have pushed their own candidates. Republican Kevin McCarthy has received more than 200 votes in each round, but these are too few to reach the absolute majority of 218 supporters.

After freedom caucus founder Jim Jordan of Ohio was the vote splitters' choice on the first day, they moved on to caucus member Byron Donalds of Florida from day two onwards. Donalds has since consistently lost votes to other Republicans, including non-member of Congress Donald Trump. Of the 20 vote splitters, all are associated with the freedom caucus except for freshman Representative Keith Self - nevertheless endorsed by Trump and a 2020 election denier. They include Reps. Matt Gaetz from Florida, Lauren Boebert from Colorado and Andy Biggs from Arizona. Jim Jordan himself voted for Kevin McCarthy throughout.

Democrats meanwhile have rallied behind Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who consistently received 212 votes, and have called on Republicans to unify to finalize the vote. The House will reconvene at noon Eastern time on January 6.