Will Kevin Mccarthy drop out after losing 5th round of vote for Speaker of the House?

So far Republicans nominated GOP leader Kevin McCarthy to five different ballots to become the Speaker of the House and he has managed to fail all five of them. The latest one was the fifth ballot which took place on Wednesday, after the 118th session of Congress adjourned for the day without having chosen a Speaker on Tuesday, January 3. 

As the ballot moves to the sixth round, the GOP party seems to be in utter chaos, there does not seem a path forward for McCarthy. His vote count has only gotten worse. While he managed to secure 203 votes in the first, and second rounds, it fell to 202 in the third vote, 201 in the fourth, and now, the fifth tally. 

GOP Rep. Byron Donalds, who was nominated for both the fourth as well as the fifth ballot, but was unable to secure majority votes, told reporters that he has spoken to McCarthy and plans to speak again. However, he did not say if he had urged the California Republican lawmaker to drop out of the race.

The primary demand was to allow just one member to call for a vote, seeking a speaker’s ouster, he told CNN.

Republican Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado said he had a “number of conversations” with McCarthy and that he told the House GOP leader that it was high time he made a decision. He either needs to make a deal with his own hard-line party members who oppose his speakership or step aside.

McCarthy “needs to figure out how to make a deal in order to move forward and keep it simple,” Buck said. “I said to Kevin at some point, you know, you’ve got to make sure you gotta either cut a deal or you’ve got to give Steve [Scalise] a chance or others a chance to see if they can put it together. My feeling is Kevin gets more votes than anybody else.”

“There are a few of those 20 that just aren’t going to vote for Kevin McCarthy but would vote for somebody else. There are some of the others … who want changes in the rules and there are some others who care about policy. I think if Steve meets those three needs, he will be able to move forward and take the speakership,” Buck told CNN shortly after.