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Around Christmas, Texas Republican Rep. Roger Williams\u2019 wife suffered a medical emergency. This week, as she underwent treatment, her husband was eager to be by her side.\xa0\nInstead, he has been stuck in Washington taking failed vote after failed vote in Kevin McCarthy's quest to become speaker.\n\u201cThis is killing him,\u201d one of Williams\u2019 GOP lawmaker friends told us late Thursday night. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen Roger as down as he was yesterday.\u201d\xa0\nWilliams isn\u2019t alone. On Thursday, Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) felt ill; his colleagues had to convince him it was OK to duck out of the speakership drama and go home for rest. Rep.-elect Wesley Hunt (R-Texas) is eager to return to Texas after his wife gave birth this week. Rep. Kevin Hern's (R-Okla.) mother died this week; he wants to attend her funeral on Saturday.\n\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more at stake than whether Kevin McCarthy\u2019s going to be able to get the gavel,\u201d the aforementioned GOP lawmaker told us. \u201cWe\u2019ve got lives that are being impacted right now, and this is tough for people.\u201d\nThere\u2019s been wall-to-wall coverage of the 20 anti-McCarthy rebels. But as the GOP leader faces down what will likely be his 12th failed bid for the gavel today, the story is about to shift to McCarthy\u2019s increasingly tenuous support network.\xa0\nSubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter\nRaghu Manavalan is the host and senior editor of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.