The suspense in the US House of Representatives on Friday night was historic. At the end of the evening, Matt Gaetz held the cards and he eventually conceded in his efforts to withhold the Speakership from Kevin McCarthy.
Gaetz joined a group of Republican House members who were not comfortable with a McCarthy speakership.
This group prevented McCarthy from winning House Speaker 13 times. Then on the 13th vote, most of the 20 voted for McCarthy with only a little more than a handful holding out.
As TGP reported, it was likely McCarthy was going to win the 14th vote which was moved to Friday night. McCarthy was betting that some Democrats would go home and he would be able to win the speakership with fewer votes than needed with the full House in place. McCarthy may have also hoped that he would get the remaining votes needed from those who opposed voting for McCarthy by that evening as well.
