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Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a vocal opponent of House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), signaled to reporters that McCarthy may be headed for a victory in the speaker race after more than half of those who had initially opposed him flipped their vote in favor of the leader in the 12th round of voting Friday afternoon.
Republicans had, through 11 ballots over three days, been unable to elect a speaker because of roughly 20 holdouts, many of whom had concerns about McCarthy and sought structural changes to the House and other commitments from the leader before they would vote for him.
Gaetz, however, firmly placed himself in a small crowd of “never Kevin” voters weeks ago. Gaetz told Steve Bannon’s War Room in an interview in December that McCarthy did not have the requisite majority of votes nor did he have even 200 votes.
“There’s a reason that the true conservatives are going to stand against him and deprive him the speakership,” Gaetz said at the time.
