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For the past 100 years, the speaker of the US House of Representatives has always been elected on the first ballot at the start of a new Congress.

But today, front-runner Republican Kevin McCarthy failed to get votes needed to secure this position.

In a huge setback, nineteen members of his own party joined the Democrats in voting against him, denying him the votes he needs, despite his party having a majority in the House.

The US House of Representatives has adjourned after failing three times to elect a Speaker.

Earlier, Congressman McCarthy had said he would stay on the floor of the House for as long as was needed to win the role.

The standoff has exposed deep divisions within the Republican party and has drawn criticism from the opposition Democrats.

Rina Shah is a former Republican Party strategist and political commentator. She told Newsday, "What we know is that nothing gets done on capitol hill until both sides come to the middle and meet, and that's how legislation gets passed, and this is just unnecessary, this is high school juvenile tactics, at a time where we really need some unity in the country".

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