Aw. Trump lost his vote.

This is the key point that "Kevin can still eke out a deal!" Rs and pundits are, I think, missing. He's shown he's utterly weak, not remotely respected, and he can only win by giving away most of the Speaker's power.

Maura Healey has been sworn in as governor of Massachusetts.

I feel very good about that.

https://www.boston.com/news/politics/2023/01/05/livestream-ma-gov-maura-healey-inaugural-address/

Assuming there's no winner on this 9th ballot (and there's no reason to think there will be), that will tie 1923 and guarantee this goes longer.

Last night and again this morning, several Rs said that if Kevin couldn't shift any votes on the next ballot he'd have to step aside.

That referred to the 7th ballot. We're onto the 9th, and there's no indication any McC supporter is dropping Kevin or demanding his withdrawal.

And yet more truth.

More truth.

Simple truth.

Meanwhile, other Rs were saying they'd abandon Kevin if he couldn't move any votes on the 7th ballot... and they're all still voting for him.

Goin' great!

The 9th ballot will tie 1923. And no sign that it can be the last.

Bacon has floated this before. But as far as I'm aware he remains the only R to raise it publicly.

Because gloating about how smug he'll be once he wins will totally convince the holdouts to flock to him.

And of course if he does ever win, it'll be by giving away half his authority to the insane.

Oh, well, that'll change everything, right? He's lobbying *during* the vote! What a guy!

Nor did his phone calls.

Oh dear. Trump was maneuvered into a direct endorsement... and it didn't even work.

Oh dear. Here was have the flip side... Rs who *do* support McC warning that they could bolt if he gives even more away to the loonies.

Rs will desperately want *some* sign of movement on the 8th ballot. They've been frantically "negotiating" behind the scenes.

But that was mostly before/during the 7th ballot.

The last time the majority party failed to elect a Speaker on the first ballot - a hundred years ago - it went 9 ballots.

Can the Rs avoid exceeding that?

God knows. R sources claimed McC would gain ~10 votes this round, and he gained none.

Kevin has already offered insane amounts of power to the fringe nutjobs... and they still want more.

Plus it's not clear that even bigger concessions would move enough votes to reach 218... since R sources claimed last night's groveling would move 10 votes and it moved zero.

JFC, Kevin's insane offers giving away half his power to the loons didn't move ANY votes his way.

Others had said that if he couldn't gain votes on this ballot it would show he had no path and they'd switch to someone else... likely Scalise (who's every bit as bad).