The standoff in the House will go for another round of voting as Republican Rep. Kevin McCarthy is nominated for a seventh ballot. He was nominated by Rep.-elect John James of Michigan. The House is back after adjourning Wednesday evening.
James made a plea for unity in his nomination speech, saying, the “issues that divide us today are much less severe that they were in 1856 in fact there’s far more that unite us, than divide us, regardless of our political party of ideology.”
“The issues today are over a few rules and personalities. While the issues at that time were about slavery and whether the value of a man who looks like me was 60% or 100% of a human being,” James said.
McCarthy has failed to reach a majority in six rounds of voting over the course of two days.
A group of 20 Republicans opposing McCarthy have voted for Rep. Byron Donalds during the fourth, fifth and sixth ballot rounds.