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Topline
Several Republicans opposed to electing Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) as speaker of the House opted Thursday to back Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) for the position, throwing yet another long-shot candidate into a speaker race that has no clear end in sight—even though Hern has consistently supported McCarthy.
Key Facts
Hern received seven votes on the tenth ballot Thursday afternoon after getting three in the ninth round of voting, when Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) cast the first vote for him.
Hern, 61, does not back the effort to make him speaker—he has voted for McCarthy on every ballot.
Boebert called Hern a “Republican who can unify our conference” in her nomination speech, noting he is not a part of the House Freedom Caucus, which the anti-McCarthy voters are members of.
Hern is about to enter his third full term serving his Tulsa-based district, after being reelected to his deep-red district with 61% of the vote in November.
Hern is a relatively little-known member of Congress and is not a face of the hard right like many of those who voted for him for speaker, like Boebert and Gaetz, but his voting record is extremely conservative, and his House bids have earned Trump’s backing.
Big Number
4.5%. According to FiveThirtyEight, that’s how often Hern has voted in line with President Joe Biden on bills—tied for the 10th lowest number of any member of Congress, below the likes of Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
Key Background
The House speaker vote entered uncharted territory for modern times Thursday after nine ballots were cast without a winner, marking the first time since before the start of the Civil War that such a protracted vote has taken place. Though Hern emerged as an alternative to Donalds among anti-McCarthy Republicans, McCarthy was not able to win back a single vote among his opposition despite giving in to several of the group’s key demands, including allowing for a so-called “motion to vacate” that could allow the House to replace its speaker mid-term. It remains unclear how long the voting might go on and how far lawmakers might be from reaching a compromise to select a speaker.
Further Reading
Trump Gets One Vote For House Speaker In Apparent Hard-Right Stunt—And He’s Technically Eligible For The Job (Forbes)
McCarthy Agrees To These Concessions In His Quest To Become Speaker—But They May Not Be Enough (Forbes)
McCarthy Fails To Win House Speaker Race After 10 Rounds Of Voting—First Time In 163 Years (Forbes)
What To Know About Byron Donalds—The Republican Challenging McCarthy For Speaker (Forbes)
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