Tech Giants Love McCarthy. His Party? Not So Much — Why House Speaker Vote Is A Mess

GOP leader Kevin McCarthy lost key votes to Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma and Rep. Jim Jordan on Friday, once again falling short of the necessary votes to be named speaker of the House of Representatives.

McCarthy's latest loss comes at a time when his far-right opponents continue to blast his record and cozy relationship with Silicon Valley. Over the years, McCarthy has received generous donations from funds tied to big-tech companies and executives, including Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Meta Platforms Inc (NASDAQ:META).

This is just one of many grievances raised by lead Republican dissenter Rep. Matt Gaetz, who continues to use whatever fodder he can to derail the House Speaker election process, including nominating former President Donald Trump to the position.

See Also: McCarthy's Concessions To Gaetz, Other Dissenters Are A Dud

What Happened: Jan. 6 marks two years since the Capitol Insurrection, when Trump incited thousands of supporters to storm Congress.

The attack on the Capitol shut down Congress. Today, one brand of the U.S. government is essentially on hiatus again. This time, it's a group of far-right Republicans who are dragging out the House Speaker election — making it the longest speaker election since 1859.

McCarthy, for four-straight days and 12 ballots, continues to haggle with a steadfast group of far-right Republicans opposing his candidacy, even after major concessions were offered.
Gaetz maintained his challenge on Thursday, calling McCarty's bid "an exercise in vanity."

Gaetz, who nominated Jordan, called McCarthy the "Lebron James of special interest fundraising" and blamed the GOP leader for bad-mouthing him to the press.

"He went out to the media and said 'See? they just want jobs for themselves," Gaetz said, referring to his demands to be appointed to the House Rules committee, which considers all bills and schedules their consideration on the floor of the House.

Why It Matters: Gaetz appears to be losing steam.  has called out McCarthy for this business dealings before. "McCarthy has been called 'Big Tech’s best friend,' and you could tell by the Twitter Files that I’m their worst enemy, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Gaetz said back in December.

Meanwhile, all 212 Democrats continue to back New York Rep. Hakeem Jefferies.

Until a House Speaker is elected, no new house members can be sworn in.

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