we re now about an hour away from the house reconvening and hopes to vote immediately or eventually will make him the next speaker of the house. spending the night trying to twist these arms belonging to the six hard right republicans that you see on the screen. it was so close, that absent members some of them came out of surgery or other medical provide tour procedures making they are way to the chamber. all of this has extra resonance. manu, so, we talked to you in the last hour, it seems to change over the hour, what s the latest. reporter: there s still growing confidence that they will get the vote. the longest speaker s race that we ve seen since the mid-18 hundreds. but, they believe they ve gotten there. the question will ultimately be on which members ultimately flip. you showed the six on your screen, some of those, they will need all members come and vote for a specific candidate, they will need four of those six. but, there are other strategies now being disc
we should be prepared to be back here doing this same thing when that happens. because especially considering some of the things that mccarthy clearly gave away. i mean in the past they ve been able to do it with democratic help, and mccarthy in theory could do that. but it seems like they ve tried to hold his feet to fire here and say, no, what kevin mccarthy can decide to do is not put it on the floor. without getting into the specifics of all the ugly fights that are going to come, i think the point that you just made and others have made is that this is at large a vision of what we re going to see, possibly, going forward for the next two years in a very chaotic congress. and it has huge consequences. huge consequences for nation, but as we just settle on this moment, we are watching the history being made, because i believe on this 15th ballot kevin mccarthy will finally secure enough votes, whether it s through people voting present or switching votes to him to ac
you ll find out the things you disagree upon are not insurmountable and we can finally get to resolutions and get to yes. the first test is well, first test was electing a speaker and that proved to be quite difficult. but i m glad you can laugh about it now. the next one is rules package for anyone out there wonder what that means. it s a package that dictates how the congress, the house in particular is going to run for the next couple of years. and it s not clear whether or not even that will pass. what do you think? you know, a lot of people are coming into this and grumbling, well, the people who are negotiating got everything and kevin was giving away the store. but i think part of the process with a lot of other members in working with my group, the republican governance group and explaining along the way of what was taking place, and there s nothing in this package that really hurts us because, unfortunately and i ve seen it since my time here too much power
that began way back on tuesday. along the way, we were treated to an important at times chaotic civics lesson including near fisticuffs live and on camera. friday the fourth day of voefting we saw 15 holdouts switch their allegiance during the 12th and 13th rounds of balloting, and then after an adjournment mccarthy thought he had the needed votes and at 11:00 came to a 14th vote yet one vote shy of a majority. for the first time all week he couldn t hide being visibly angry. lauren boebert and matt gaetz voted present while four other anti-mccarthy holdouts remained steadfast. it was dramatic and gripping to watch. a fistfight nearly broke out as mike rogers the chair of the house armed services committee, was physically restrained from matt gaetz who supporters rushed to his side. on enies were heard. mccarthy thought he d whipped the votes necessary. when it seemed they were going to be adjourning for the weekend there was more arm twisting. suddenly mccarthy was smiling a
the gentleman from the great state of california and the next speaker of the 118th congress, kevin mccarthy. newly elected speaker of the house kevin mccarthy grabbing the gavel there after four days of voting, the longest speaker contest in 164 years. but despite the sometimes contentious days of negotiations, with the narrow faction of his conference, republicans in the end rallied around mccarthy and his vision for america. i make this promise i ll never give up for you, the american people. and i will never give up on keeping our commitment to america. our nation is worth fighting for. our rights are worth fighting. our dreams are worth fighting for. our future is worth fighting for. [ cheers and applause ] cnn s eva mckend is live for us on capitol hill. so, eva, you know, how did mccarthy eventually get those votes that he needed? reporter: fred, by convincing those holdouts, those never-kevin lawmakers ultimately to vote present. that isn t a ringing endors