After John McCain’s dramatic intervention in the early hours of Friday, protesters outside the Capitol hugged, cheered and shouted: ‘Yes we did!’

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Protesters hugged and clapped outside the US Capitol in the first hours of Friday as the latest GOP effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act collapsed.

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Republicans ensured the summer legislative calendar was filled with efforts to repeal the landmark health reform and entered Thursday’s overnight vote with a week of votes in their wake.

But at 1.29am in the Capitol, John McCain, the senior Republican senator from Arizona, voted against a bill that would partially repeal the law, popularly known as Obamacare, sealing the bill’s failure.

Democrats clapped in celebration of his vote, as the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, stood a few feet away from McCain with his arms folded.

The news immediately reached protesters gathered outside the Capitol, who broke into chants of “Yes we did!” after cheering the news.

Douglas (@dreyesceron) The moment here on @uscapitol when the vote came in with the 3 NO's #capitolhill #dc #washington #savetheaca pic.twitter.com/7gXaK09B75

The images of exuberant protesters indicated celebration, but politicians were quick to remind the crowds a new bill could be coming.

“We are not celebrating; we are relieved,” said the Democratic Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, after the vote. “The nightmare is over for this day,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, of Massachusetts. But she said Republicans could continue to push for repeal.

Warren hugged demonstrators and posed for selfies as if she were walking a Hollywood red carpet before the crowd broke out into another “Yes we did!” chant.

Jeff Stein (@JStein_Vox) Warren: "Let's have some fun! Does anyone want to take a selfie?" Jumps into crowd and does so with smile pic.twitter.com/uOQO2C4PSw

Democratic senators, including California’s Kamala Harris, Illinois’s Tammy Duckworth and Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar, also addressed the protesters, who had given testimony about their healthcare woes while the votes tallied.

When McCain gave his thumbs-down, following two no votes from the Republican senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins – the most strident opponents to their party’s ACA repeal efforts – the crowd outside, and online, erupted.

Emma Roller (@emmaroller) Here's the moment the crowd outside the Capitol learned Republicans didn't have the votes. pic.twitter.com/vawKkdygoY

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