WASHINGTON D.C. — The House of Representatives has now gone three days and eleven rounds of voting without picking a new House speaker. The chamber remains adjourned until Friday morning.
Multiple members of Congress from Colorado are making headlines in the capitol drama unfolding in Washington. Twenty republicans are opposed to California Representative Kevin McCarthy, including Congresswomen Lauren Boebert of Colorado's 3rd District. For the third day in a row, Rep. Boebert has held her stance against McCarthy, saying in a tweet Thursday she voted for Rep. Kevin Hern of Oklahoma for speaker.
Colorado District 4 Rep. Ken Buck was in Washington Thursday but did not vote in the ninth and following rounds. His office said in a statement he later headed back to Colorado for a planned medical procedure. The statement said it is unclear when he will return to Washington or if he will be able to vote on Friday.
Rep. Buck said in an interview with CNN on Thursday he would have considered voting for an alternative candidate to compromise with the 20 republicans he said are not budging.
"The 20 are saying that they are not moving no matter what. At some point people have to realize that we've got to choose a speaker and move forward. The American people sent us here to get the work done," he said.
Colorado District 5 Rep. Doug Lamborn continues to stand by his vote for McCarthy throughout the 11 voting rounds. Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse of Colorado's 2nd District told MSNBC his party remains focused despite division amongst republicans.
The 20 republicans remain unmoved despite multiple concessions from McCarthy. There has been discussion of changing the voting rules for speaker, making it a simple plurality. If that happens and the votes more or less stay the same, then Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries would become speaker.
The House still has a ways to go before it hits the record number of voting rounds. In 1855 the House of Representatives took 133 rounds of voting before electing a speaker. That process took two months.
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