- “I don’t think a vote tonight will make a difference,” McCarthy told reporters Wednesday evening, “but a vote in the future will.”
- Votes will continue for however many days it takes until a speaker is elected. House members cannot be sworn in until a speaker is chosen, holding up any legislative business and committee assignments in the 118th Congress.
- The threshold for a nominee to win the speaker’s gavel is 218 votes, but that number decreases if members vote “present,” decline to vote, or are absent.
