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WASHINGTON — The three Texas Republican holdouts who have helped block Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s bid for House Speaker over the course of 11 historic votes and four days voted for the California Republican on Friday.
However, McCarthy still appeared as though he would come up short of the votes to win the gavel on Friday during the first vote of the day. Enough GOP members voted against McCarthy, denying him a majority — however the vote represented the most movement from his opponents since voting started Tuesday.
Reps. Chip Roy, R-Austin, and Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, and Rep.-elect Keith Self, R-McKinney, switched their votes for McCarthy who is favored by the overwhelming majority of their party after a marathon of negotiations over how he would lead the House. Roy was one of the most vocal opponents to McCarthy’s speakership, demanding more changes to House rules to give more power to rank-and-file members and more mechanisms to keep leadership accountable.
Roy, Cloud and Self’s vote change signaled an apparent deal on their numerous demands on how the House should operate. Roy was one of the top negotiators for the camp opposing McCarthy’s bid, shuttling between the House floor and Republican Whip Tom Emmer’s office for hours on Thursday.
He, McCarthy and their allies presented an optimistic attitude through Thursday afternoon into Friday morning that an agreement was nigh. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-South Carolina, told reporters Thursday evening that a first-round agreement had been presented to dissenting members, and Roy signaled a chipper tune when asked about it.
“We’re working hard,” Roy said, though he refused to disclose the contours of the negotiations with reporters.
The dissenting members hoped to reinstate a rule allowing any one member to force a vote that could remove the speaker from his post — a rule that McCarthy long resisted. They also demanded greater assurances that members would have more time to review and debate legislation and a more central role for the deeply conservative House Freedom Caucus in the Republican conference.