why does he need 218 votes? That’s half of the House. He’s running for a GOP seat so shouldn’t he need just half (plus one) of the GOP votes?
The author screwed up, and the editors missed it. But I just checked the link and they have since fixed it, with the sentence now reading: as follows:
Asked whether he is nearing the votes needed to win the job, Mr. Labrador said, “We’re close.”