19 House Republicans voted against McCarthy six times. Guess which American Nations they’re from.

The 118th Congress has gotten off to a dysfunctional start, with Republican House Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) — a Trump sycophant who has soft-pedaled the 1/6 coup attempt — failing to achieve the required majority of votes to become House Speaker not once but six times over two days. At this writing, the U.S. House cannot be constituted because, without a House Speaker, the chamber cannot be organized to commence business.

All 212 Democrats in the chamber voted against him, of course, but nineteen far-right Republicans also voted against him in every one of the six votes, issuing demands they be given plumb committee positions and that the chamber’s rules be changed to allow them to easily overthrow the Speaker. (Another switched against him in the third round and a twenty-first began voting “present” on day two.) So who were the 19 rabble rousers? And which parts of the American Nations do they hail from?

It won’t shock regular readers to learn that only one of the 19 hails from one of the communitarian-oriented regional cultures described in American Nations (a Midlander). Eight represent Greater Appalachian districts. The Far West and Deep South account for four more each. One represents a district in El Norte (suburban Phoenix) and one the Tidewater (the Eastern Shore of Maryland.) None of the roughly 40 Republican House members from Yankeedom, the Left Coast and New Netherland joined the defectors.

Here’s the breakdown:

Regional Origins of the 19 anti-McCarthy GOP House members

It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.

(Image via Wikipedia Commons/Tyler Merbler)