NC Rep. Dan Bishop flips, votes for California’s Kevin McCarthy for speaker
Eleven votes.
That’s how many times Rep. Dan Bishop opposed Rep. Kevin McCarthy for House speaker.
But something changed on vote No. 12 when the U.S. House clerk called Bishop’s name. He stood, and paused for a second.
“Kevin McCarthy,” Bishop said.
Claps and cheers echoed across the House floor.
McCarthy expected to be named House speaker for the 118th Congress on Tuesday, but he hasn’t been able to gain enough support from his fellow Republicans to secure a majority vote. Twenty Republicans strongly opposed him from the start. The number dwindled on vote No. 12 — but not enough to win the position.
Thirteen Republicans changed to support McCarthy in the first vote Friday.
Speaking to reporters, they touted their effort to slow down the process, declaring it a sign the government was functioning properly. It showed Americans an open debate over leadership, despite the fact that negotiations largely occurred behind closed doors, a portion of the group of 13 said.
The members refused to share details of their negotiation but put it into three broad categories — checks on the powers of those in leadership, broad changes to how congress spends money and greater representation for conservatives on committees.
“We’re going to be working with our friends on the floor whose votes are still needed to make sure that we’re going to have a framework that can be rallied around and that will make the place change on behalf of the American people and protect minority rights in a majoritarian body,” said Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas.
Bishop spoke separately about what led him to vote for McCarthy.
“There were critical parts of the agreement that were most significant to me in all of this,” Bishop said. “I think it depends on the perspective that each person brings, but it’s also a collaborative thing.”
He kept with the group of 13’s agreement to keep their negotiations private while they remain ongoing. But Bishop agreed to describe those in broad strokes.
Among those:
- Rules changes.
- Personnel and how members of the conference will be distributed to key committees.
- Policy imperatives.
- Addressing federal law enforcement.
“There are very important aspects of this agreement to make sure that this Congress will, with courage and boldness, attack that issue and deal with it,” Bishop said of the latter.
Bishop said these are critical issues to him that he felt needed to be addressed. He said it took some leaps of good faith that these issues will be addressed.
In a written statement, Bishop promised to hold McCarthy accountable to his promises.
Kansas City Star congressional correspondent Daniel Desrochers contributed to this story.
This story was originally published January 6, 2023 at 1:34 PM.
