WASHINGTON — House Democrats ended their sit-in on the chamber's floor Thursday more than 24 hours after it began, a protest that let them broadcast their demands around the world for gun-control votes after the mass shooting at a Florida nightclub.
There were no indications that Republicans who run the House had granted Democrats' insistence for votes on bills strengthening background checks and barring firearms sales to people on the government's no-fly list.
Even so, 25½ hours after they commandeered the chamber and blasted images of themselves on social media, Democrats filed out and declared victory.
"We are going to win this struggle," said Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the civil-rights icon who helped lead the sit-in.
Hours earlier, Republicans had exited the Capitol, branding the sit-in a publicity stunt and summarily adjourning the chamber at about 3:15 a.m. EDT until after the Fourth of July.
"We are not going to allow stunts like this to stop us from carrying out the people's business," Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Thursday morning in dismissing the protest. Ryan held up copies of Democratic fundraising appeals based on the protest.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.