The US House is in disarray following Kevin McCarthy's loss of speaker votes.

The US House is in disarray following Kevin McCarthy's loss of speaker votes.

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy failed repeatedly in his bid to be elected Speaker of the US House of Representatives on a day of political drama unprecedented in Congress in a century.

The House adjourned without a speaker on Tuesday night, the first time since 1923 that a first-round vote failed to elect a leader.

The start of a new Congress was supposed to be a victory lap for the Republican Party, which had taken control of the lower chamber following the elections in November. Instead, McCarthy faced internal opposition and made history for all the wrong reasons.

So far, the California congressman has lost three consecutive votes for Speaker, and it's unclear what his path to victory will be when the House reconvenes on Wednesday. They will vote until someone obtains a majority.

Even if Mr McCarthy finds a way, analysts warn that the turmoil on the House floor foreshadows a tumultuous two years of conflict between moderate and right-wing Republicans.

Negotiations made him appear weak.'

Republicans narrowly won control of the House in November, so McCarthy only needed a few votes to become Speaker. As a result, a group of staunch conservatives banded together to oppose his nomination.

Republican observers say the schism was a long time coming.

"For a long time, Kevin McCarthy has not made friends with certain segments of the caucus; he's made a lot of enemies," said one Republican lobbyist, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about Tuesday's vote. "There are people who dislike him for political and personal reasons."

Mr McCarthy entered into talks with his critics, who see him as too mainstream and power hungry, offering concessions in an attempt to win their support. At one point, he reportedly agreed to change House rules to make it easier to remove a sitting Speaker, effectively limiting his power.

"The fact that he was negotiating with Republicans at all made him look very, very weak, almost desperate," a Republican lobbyist said.

His opponents are encouraged.

On Tuesday, the futility of that approach became clear.

Mr McCarthy failed to reach the required 218 vote threshold three times in a row. Despite the fact that Republicans hold 222 seats, a group of 19 hard-right Republicans had banded together to oppose him. They oppose McCarthy on ideological and personal grounds, but they also see an opportunity to use Republicans' narrow majority to force him to make additional concessions.

They would "never back down," Virginia Republican Representative Rob Good told reporters on Tuesday.

They even nominated Representative Jim Jordan to challenge him in one of the day's most dramatic moments, just moments after Mr Jordan himself nominated Mr McCarthy for Speaker.

Even after Mr Jordan, a prominent member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, urged Republicans to "rally around" Mr McCarthy in the third round of voting, 20 Republicans voted for Mr Jordan, denying Mr McCarthy victory yet again.

Meanwhile, Democrats remained united behind their party's new leader, New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries.

A few couldn't help but poke fun at their Republican counterparts' difficult afternoon. One Arizona congressman, Ruben Gallego, tweeted that Democrats were "breaking out the popcorn," and included a photo of the snack as proof.

What are McCarthy's next steps?

Political observers in Washington have begun to concoct various scenarios for how this could all end. Their predictions to the BBC ranged from the plausible (Mr McCarthy holds out and wins, but walks away severely weakened) to the entirely plausible (Mr McCarthy holds out and wins, but walks away severely weakened) (he bows out and backs his second in command, Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana). One suggestion bordered on the fantastical (five Republicans decide to vote for Mr Jeffries, a Democrat, and deliver him control of the House). McCarthy is currently "essentially hostage to one side of his party," according to Ruth Bloch Rubin, a political scientist who studies partisanship at the University of Chicago.

Mr McCarthy has pledged not to make any more concessions, but he may be forced to. He could try to persuade obstinate lawmakers with prestigious committee assignments or new leadership positions.

"He's got to give the people who are against him something to hang their hat on," said Aaron Cutler, a lobbyist who previously worked for former congressman Eric Cantor, another politician ousted by conservative opposition. The other Republican lobbyist, on the other hand, believed there was "no path to victory, period."

Members will meet for the fourth time on Wednesday, but it's unclear whether the impasse will be broken.

"We haven't heard anything new from McCarthy," said Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, one of the conservative holdouts. "I suppose we'll just keep doing it."

Author: Rabnawaz Toor