The Republican leader Kevin McCarthy was elected as speaker of the US House of Representatives in a dramatic late-night vote, after quelling a days-long revolt from a bloc of far-right conservatives to finally capture the gavel on a historic 15th attempt.
McCarthy’s ascension to speaker came after 14 defeats and a string of concessions to ultraconservative lawmakers that would significantly weaken his power while strengthening their influence over the party’s new House majority. After winning over most of the holdouts earlier on Friday, McCarthy withstood a surprise defeat on the 14th ballot later that evening and finally clinched the gavel on the next round with the slimmest majority, just 216 votes, in the early hours of Saturday morning.
The spectacle concluded in stunning fashion during the tense, late-night session on the House floor that erupted in shouting and finger pointing. A Republican lawmaker had to be physically restrained by a colleague. But the bitter speakership battle, the longest since 1859, ended shortly after, when the last remaining holdouts switched their votes to “present”, lowering the threshold and allowing McCarthy to secure the post.
The final tally was 216-212 with Democrats voting for their leader Hakeem Jeffries, and six Republican holdouts to McCarthy voting present.
A beaming McCarthy hugged members of his leadership team and allies who stood with him throughout the days-long saga. Cheers broke out in the chamber and the galleys above, where family members watched the vote unfold. Ascending to the speaker’s rostrum, he raised the gavel and gave it two vigorous thwacks. “That was easy, huh?” he said, eliciting laughs.
“My father always told me, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” McCarthy continued, declaring, “Now, the hard work begins.”
House Democrats remained unified behind Jeffries, a congressman from New York, until the last ballot. Marking “a moment of transition” after four years of Democratic control of the House, Jeffries said Democrats would seek to work with Republicans where possible, but vowed to always put “American values over autocracy.”
Joe Biden congratulated McCarthy on winning the speakership and urged the new Republican House majority eager to challenge his administration with long-promised subpoenas and investigations to “govern responsibly.”
The protracted fight paralyzed the new Congress and exposed deep rifts within the House Republican conference that foreshadowed a rocky two years ahead for the newly elected speaker. The conflict marked the first time in a century that the House failed to choose a speaker on the first ballot, and only four other speakership elections in US history have required more than 12 votes.
“It’s been a long week,” Republican congressman Patrick McHenry conceded at the start of his speech nominating McCarthy for the speakership. “The president has called this process an embarrassment. Talking heads labeled this a chaos and a mess. And some would call it shambolic, even. But it’s called democracy.”
When McCarthy finished speaking, he moved quickly to swear in the members and formally open the 118th Congress in the post-midnight hours. Among them was George Santos, the embattled New York Republican, who is facing multiple federal and local investigations as well as calls to resign after it was revealed that he lied repeatedly about aspects of his background during his election campaign.
Plans to vote on a new rules package that included many of the demands from McCarthy’s opponents, were postponed until next week.
McCarthy had hoped to win the gavel on the 14th ballot, but he fell one vote short. When it became clear that McCarthy would not succeed, tensions erupted on the House floor.
McCarthy strode to the back of the chamber to confront congressman Matt Gaetz, of Florida and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, leaders of the anti-McCarthy coalition. At one point, congressman Mike Rogers, a Republican of Alabama, had to be physically restrained after appearing to lunge at Gaetz and a member shouted: “stay civil.”
In the face of an entrenched opposition, McHenry moved to adjourn the chamber until Monday. But the negotiations abruptly shifted in McCarthy’s favor, and Republicans quickly scuttled their plans and called for a 15th vote.
“I rise to say, wow,” congressman Dean Phillips, a Democrat of Minnesota said, reacting to drama as he nominated Jeffries for speaker on the 15th ballot.
In a frenzied effort to end the intra-party stalemate, McCarthy and his allies spent days locked in late-night negotiations with the 20 hardline conservatives who opposed him on the first 11 ballots. Because of House Republicans’ narrow majority, McCarthy could only afford to lose four votes if all sitting members cast a ballot for speaker. In exchange for their support, the holdout members demanded sweeping changes to chamber rules, as well as more representation on some of the most high-profile House committees.
After rounds of fruitless balloting, McCarthy’s prospects brightened when the chamber reconvened on Friday. In quick succession, he converted 15 of the Republican defectors. Among them was Congressman Scott Perry, the chair of the House Freedom Caucus and a leader of the far-right rebellion, who said the camps had reached “the framework for an agreement” on many of the group’s demands.
Following an unsuccessful 12th and 13th ballot on Friday, Republicans voted to adjourn until later that evening, with only six Republicans still opposed to McCarthy’s candidacy. McCarthy used that time to lobby the half-dozen remaining holdouts, eventually finding a way to break the impasse. Without votes to spare, the delay also allowed two McCarthy’s allies, Ken Buck of Colorado and Wesley Hunt of Texas, time to return Washington to cast ballots for him.
Buck had missed earlier votes for health reasons, while Hunt was absent to be with his wife and newly born son. When Hunt and Buck cast their votes Friday night, Republicans applauded for them.
When the House returned late Friday evening, the mood among Republicans was jovial and McCarthy was buoyant. Even the House Chaplin, Margaret Kibben, whose prayers had become increasingly pointed, opened the session with a smile: “Dear God, we may be, at last, standing at the threshold of a new Congress.”
Although McCarthy has successfully won the speakership, he now faces the considerable challenge of attempting to govern with an unruly conference and a slim majority. The dynamics of the House Republican conference could make it much more difficult to advance must-pass legislation, such as a government spending package or a debt ceiling hike.
The rule changes requested by McCarthy’s former detractors could also complicate his tenure as speaker. To win their support, McCarthy agreed to reinstate a policy that would allow a single member to call for a vote on ousting the sitting speaker. That rule could allow McCarthy’s more skeptical supporters to remove him from his role if they clash over policy in the future, and the threat of such a maneuver will hang over the head of any sitting speaker.
Over the past four years, McCarthy has managed to maintain his position as House Republican leader in part by striving to keep the peace with far-right members of his conference. The impact of that strategy was reflected in the lengthy debate over the speakership.
One of the most vocal supporters of McCarthy’s campaign for speaker was congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who was removed from her committee assignments over her extremist views. Moments after McCarthy secured the speakership, Greene rushed forward to take a selfie with him on the House floor.
As McCarthy ascends to the speakership, time will tell whether his concessions to far-right members will be enough to keep him in charge. If not, another fight for the gavel could soon be on the horizon.
Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat of New York, said he was worried that McCarthy’s concessions to the far-right flank of his party risk making the lower chamber ungovernable, and could lead to government shutdowns or a debt-default. “Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s dream job could turn into a nightmare for the American people,” Schumer said.
A Democratic-controlled Senate will restrain House Republicans’ legislative ambitions. But in his remarks, McCarthy vowed to use both the “power of the purse” and the “power of the subpoena” to press a conservative agenda that Republicans hope will help deliver them the White House and Congress in 2024. Among the House’s first acts would be a vote to repeal funding for the Internal Revenue Service and a hearing at the southern border, McCarthy said, pledging to “hold the Swamp accountable – from the withdrawal from Afghanistan to the origins of Covid to the weaponization of the FBI.”
“It’s nighttime here in Washington,” McCarthy said in remarks from the rostrum, “but in some ways, it’s also a new beginning – a fresh start.”