Anonymous wrote:NP here, and I haven't been following this that closely (for shame, especially since I'm a fed! lol)
The Washington Post just announced that Rep. Ted Lieu (D) just voted for Hakeen Jeffries for Speaker. Are the Democrats voting? If so, why don't they just all vote for Jeffries for Speaker? They only need to get a few Rs on their side (which, I know, is pretty much an impossibility).
The entire House votes, but a winner needs to get 50% of all votes cast in order to win. Usually the votes are along party lines, so it's pretty much a given that the nominee of the majority party will win.
Jeffries has consistently been getting 212 votes - every D vote.
The problem is that the R vote is split between McCarthy and others, so nobody is getting a true majority.
Yes, Jeffries could win if 6 Rs joined his side - but so far none have.