After three days of opposition to GOP leader Kevin McCarthy’s bid for Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Austin borough representatives Chip Roy and Michael Cloud supported McCarthy in the 12th ballot on Friday.
As two of the 20 representatives opposed to McCarthy, Roy and Cloud sought to change the rules of the 118th Congress to win their support. Apparently, this happened during negotiations between conservative lawmakers and the McCarthy team. Rep. Keith Self of North Texas, who also opposed McCarthy, voted for him on Friday.
McCarthy, the representative from California, won the support of the entire GOP delegation from Texas on Friday after several days of negotiations on the rules of the House of Representatives. McCarthy on Friday defeated many GOP lawmakers who opposed him but failed to win the majority of votes to become Speaker. The 13th vote is expected on Friday.
Cloud in Thursday tweet said he was mindful of what those multiple rounds of voting looked like to voters.
“I know what it looks like at home,” Cloud said. “I don’t forget about it. It may look like chaos at times, but I came here to change the way Washington operates.”
The American statesman reached out to Roy and Cloud for comment, but representatives did not immediately respond.
Other Austin representatives voted with their parties: Republicans for McCarthy and Democrats for Rep. Hakeem Jeffreys of New York.
