U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert was one of more than a dozen House Republicans who voted for candidates other than GOP leader Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday as a stalemate among Republicans over the chamber's leadership stretched into the next day.
The Silt Republican, who narrowly won reelection to a second term in November, cast votes for fellow House Freedom Caucus member Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio in three rounds of balloting that saw McCarthy fail to win a majority of the votes as Republicans took control of the House by a slim margin.
It was the first time in 100 years a candidate for speaker didn't win election on the first ballot. House members — who won't be sworn in for the new Congress until a speaker is in place — agreed to adjourn and resume deliberations on Wednesday.
The other members of Colorado's House delegation stuck with their party's leadership in the series of roll call votes, which consumed most of the day.
Republican U.S. Reps. Doug Lamborn and Ken Buck voted for McCarthy, while Democratic U.S. Reps. Diana DeGette, Joe Neguse, Jason Crow, Brittany Pettersen and Yadira Caraveo voted for Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, who was elected as the party's minority leader last month.
Jeffries, who had the support of every Democrat, led each of round of balloting with 212 votes, followed by McCarthy, who received 203 votes in the first and second round and 202 votes in the third. Jordan and other Republicans got 19 votes in the first two rounds and 20 votes in the day's final vote.
Boebert made her intention to oppose McCarthy clear Tuesday morning.
"As it stands, I will not be voting for Kevin McCarthy to be Speaker of the House," she said in a tweet that included a brief video of Boebert telling Capitol reporters what led to her decision.
"And so now here we are, being sworn at instead of being sworn in," Boebert said in the attached clip, apparently referring to an earlier GOP caucus meeting when McCarthy reportedly used harsh language while urging fellow Republicans to rally behind him.
"Yesterday, we had a deal — that was not a selfish deal in any way — for Kevin McCarthy to get him the gavel on the first ballot, and he eagerly dismissed us," she said.
McCarthy opponents said throughout the day that they objected to proposed House rules that fell short of their demands, including having at least 72 hours to review legislation before voting on it.
Earlier Tuesday, Boebert retweeted a tweet from longtime ally former U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah, who lamented that the rules package unveiled by McCarthy would give lawmakers "less than 48 hours to review the first bill," adding, "#NotAGoodStart."
Crow, the Centennial Democrat elected to a third term in November, told Colorado Politics that he looked forward to the GOP coming to agreement on a leader so the House can start its work.
"After four years of stability and order and organization, Republicans have failed to put together a coalition and rules and a leader," he said. "And right now, we're without a formal and convened House. It's not acceptable. They have to get their act together and figure out how they're going to lead."
Added Crow: "Unfortunately, there are some Republicans in their conference who aren't interested in order or policy or making deals. They just want to tear things down. And when you want to tear things down, it makes it very hard to govern."
After the House adjourned, Boebert retweeted conservative political commentator Dan Bongino, who pushed back on pundits who pronounced the multiple rounds of voting a sign of the GOP's disarray.
"This isn’t 'chaos,' this is a REPUBLIC," Bongino said in the tweet.
