Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives hold a 13th round of voting to elect a speaker at the U.S. Capitol on Friday. (Olivier Douliery/AFP/Getty Images)
Grassroots Republicans, who have backed Rep. Kevin McCarthy for speaker, say they believe the momentum is on their side for the House speaker’s vote to take place tonight.
Texas Republican Rep. Troy Nehls told CNN that “we’re moving in the right direction,” but urged Republicans to get it done tonight so the House can come back Monday and “get some work done.”
“Hopefully we won’t be here tomorrow, because I want to go home like everyone else. But we will tonight, hopefully we’ll be home tomorrow, we’ll be back Monday morning. Everyone else in America gets up at seven o’clock to go to work that we have to be here on Monday, and we do some work,” he said.
Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska told reporters that McCarthy’s allies “definitely have the momentum.”
“As long as we keep breaking through and going in the right direction, I hope it’s tonight,” he said. “We definitely have the momentum. I think we still have one or two votes left that we need to fix, but they are working on that.”
Asked if Republicans can govern, Bacon said: “Yes, but this was not a positive start. However, I think Kevin McCarthy has a good point. Let’s solve the problems now. If we can solve the problem now , that will put us in a better place to come out of this.”
House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik told CNN that she is “confident that Kevin McCarthy will be elected Speaker of the House, as I said a year ago, a year and a half ago, two years ago.”
He praised the vast majority of his conference for rallying around McCarthy: “As you can see, Republicans are united today and we’re working to fire Nancy Pelosi once and for all.”
“I’m optimistic that we’re in a great place,” he added.