By JM Rieger and Matt Fuller and Emma Dumain

Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy has taken himself out of the race for House speaker. The first step in the speaker selection was supposed to start at noon Thursday, but members shocked reporters and congressional watchers when they came out of the room and said elections had been postponed. In a 1 p.m. news conference, McCarthy said: “We need a new face. … I don’t want to go to the floor and win with 220 votes.” Read more.