House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters Friday that he’s confident he’ll have the votes to get elected House speaker Friday evening when the chamber reconvenes at 10:00 p.m. for the 14th roll call vote.
“Yes,” McCarthy told a reporter when asked if he would have the votes to become speaker Friday night.
When asked if McCarthy would be able to convince two GOP holdouts, Reps.-elect Eli Crane, R-Ariz., and Matt Rosendale, R-Md., the California Republican replied, “I’ll have the votes.”
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Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. gives a thumbs up during his epic battle for House speaker.
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
“Because I counted,” McCarthy said when asked again why he’s confident he’ll cross the finish line Friday evening.
McCarthy flipped 15 Republican holdouts on Friday morning after an agreement was struck between friends and foes of McCarthy, including many members of the House Freedom Caucus.
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The 14 GOP lawmakers who flipped to McCarthy Friday were Reps.-elect Dan Bishop, N.C.; Joshua Brecheen, Okla.; Mike Cloud, Texas; Andrew Clyde, Ga.; Byron Donalds, Fla.; Anna Paulina Luna, Fla.; Mary Miller, Ill.; Ralph Norman, S.C.; Scott Perry, Pa.; Chip Roy, Texas; Rep. Keith Self, Texas; Paul Gosar, Ariz.; and Rep. Andy Ogles, Tenn.
McCarthy tells reporters he’ll have the votes to be elected House speaker Friday night
(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Rep.-elect Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., switched her vote from “present” to McCarthy.
Rep.-elect Byron Donalds, who originally voted for McCarthy in the first two rounds, then switched to Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and then voted for himself after nomination from his colleagues, before finally casting a vote for McCarthy Friday.
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“What I trust is that he’s gonna do the job necessary to lead our conference and lead the House of Representatives,” Donalds said when he Fox News Digital asked whether he trusts McCarthy.
Congressman-elect Byron Donalds, a Republican from Florida, said he trusts McCarhty to ‘do the job necessary’ as House speaker.
(Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“And… in this institution, trust is one of those things, to quote Ronald Reagan, that you always have to verify,” he added.
Donalds said the agreement in place that lawmakers are still working to finalize, allows lawmakers to “verify” that trust.
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“And what this agreement does, it allows the members of Congress to verify the trust that we’re instilling in Kevin McCarthy. Or that I perceive we are going to instill…,” he said.
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The House will reconvene on Friday at 10:00 p.m. to vote on the 14th ballot for House speaker in the 118th Congress.
Fox News Digital’s Patrick Hauf contributed to this report.
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