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U.S. Rep. Walter Jones was one of nine Republicans who bucked party leadership and voted for other GOP members instead of House Speaker Rep. John Boehner. The Farmville Republican instead voted for David Walker, former head of the Government Accountability Office.

Boehner, R-Ohio, was reelected Speaker of the House for the 113th Congress with 220 votes over Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who received 192 votes.

The vote against Boehner was likely part backlash after Boehner pulled Jones off the prestigious Financial Services Committee.

Jones was not the only N.C. member to buck his party. Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre of Lumberton voted for fellow Blue Dog Jim Cooper, D-Tenn, instead of Pelosi.

Boehner needed 218 votes to win reelection. Fourteen members voted for other candidates or present.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan is featured in an ABC News broadcast airing Thursday evening about the record number of female senators that take office today. The Democrat joined 19 of the 20 women for an interview with Diane Sawyer.

Hagan gets far less airtime than some of her colleagues, according to a transcript, but at one point expressed hope there will be a woman nominee for president in 2016.

North Carolina's congressional delegation split along unusual lines when it came to the fiscal cliff legislation. U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Kay Hagan voted to approve. In the House, five Democrats and one Republican voted in favor and two Democrats and five Republicans voted against. See the breakdown here and more on the vote here.

More political headlines below.

U.S. Sen. Richard Burr is voicing his support for naming the historic Century Post Office in downtown Raleigh after the late U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

Congresswoman Renee Ellmers recently introduced legislation to name it the Jesse Helms Federal Building and United States Courthouse but encountered opposition from some who called it "morally wrong to reward intolerance," a reference to the senator's record.

"Jesse Helms was a transformative figure in our state’s history who placed service to his constituents above all other priorities in his public life," Burr said in a statement issued by his office Thursday. "Whether they agreed with him on political issues or not, North Carolinians had a dedicated advocate in Washington in Jesse Helms, and this bill will help to commemorate his legacy and his service to our state."

North Carolina Congresswoman Virginia Foxx "chewed out" a House staffer for riding on an elevator reserved for lawmakers, according to The Hill, though Foxx's office is disputing the story.

It apparently happened Tuesday when the elevators at the Longworth House Office Building were clogged. A staffer and the publication's tipster stepped into the members-only elevator; Foxx and an aide stepped in on the next floor.

From The Hill: "The lawmaker, who was recently elected to a House GOP leadership post, asked for whom the pair worked. Then she turned to the female staffer, who had no clue she was on board what was soon to be the elevator ride of doom.

Foxx said to the staffer, “This is a ‘members-only’ elevator; can you read?” She then demanded the staffer’s name before the elevator stopped after going just one more floor up. “Get out here,” Foxx supposedly commanded.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan said Wednesday negotiators from both parties need to get to work in Washington to reach a budget settlement that includes revenue increases and spending cuts.

The alternative -- the automatic spending cuts and tax increases known as sequestration -- would be "extremely damaging to North Carolina," Hagan said on a conference call with reporters.

Veteran North Carolina Republican political strategist Marc Rotterman, a senior fellow at the John Locke Foundation, is one of 38 prominent conservatives who have signed a petition making demands about the fiscal cliff negotiations.

U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers has been named to the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

It’s a big appointment for the second-term Republican congresswoman from Dunn. She was re-elected on Nov. 6.

Committee chairman announced her selection Thursday night. Ellmers issued a statement on Friday:

Some North Carolina companies are joining a growing number of U.S. firms paying out early dividends before the end of the year, as tax increases on dividends are seen as likely in 2013.

Dividend tax rates were reduced to 15 percent under the Bush-era tax cuts. But that rate is scheduled to expire in January, and taxes would likely then rise – although no one knows exactly how much yet. Full story here.

More political headlines:

--Four hundred people are expected at a forum Friday in Charlotte about the gridlock in Washington.

Members of the N.C. congressional delegation say they’re ready to compromise on some hardened positions to reach a deal that would prevent the country from plunging over the “fiscal cliff.” Failing to reach an agreement by the end of the year would trigger tax hikes and massive cuts in spending on federal programs.

N.C. Rep. Howard Coble is the latest Republican who says he’s willing to buck one of the party’s sacrosanct pledges to not raise taxes. Read full story here.

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--N.C. Supreme Court Justice Patricia A. Timmons-Goodson, the first and only female African-American to serve on the state’s highest court, is resigning her position. Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat who will leave office after next month, is intent on making the replacement even though if it means she rescinds an executive order she signed to do it.