New Delhi: Kevin McCarthy was named as the new speaker of the US House of Representatives on Saturday, ending days of bitter Republican infighting that ground the lower chamber of US Congress to a standstill, news agency AFP reported. McCarthy, 57, has replaced Nancy Pelosi, 82 of the Democratic Party, as US House Speaker. However, he was not able to muster a majority of the votes on the floor from the Congressmen-elect even after 14 rounds of votes.
In an embarrassment for the Grand Old Party, Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy fell short of votes in the 14th round to be elected as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, extending the political paralysis in the US Congress.
As per AFP, the US House Speaker poll became the longest speakership election in 160 years as the deeply divided Republicans took 15 rounds of voting over four days to fend off a right-wing, anti-McCarthy rebellion.
In the mid-term November 8 elections, the Republican Party had won 222 seats in the 435-member House as against 212 of the Democratic Party.
According to news agency PTI, the Republican lawmaker received 216 votes against Hakeem Sekou Jeffries, 52, of the Democratic Party who got 212 votes, in a late-night 14th round of votes that started at 10 pm. A total of 432 votes were cast.
In the 14th round, four Republican lawmakers voted against McCarthy, while two Republicans were present and did not vote for either side. More importantly, Republican Congressman from Florida Matt Gaetz, one of his fiercest critics and opponents, did not budge and refused to vote for McCarthy.
A desperate McCarthy walked up to Gaetz pleading for his vote. But it did not work. There were some angry moments between Gaetz and some of the supporters of McCarthy. In frustration, McCarthy then moved to adjourn the House till Monday noon. But then they had one last-minute negotiation with a few of the opponents, who they believe have agreed to flip their votes. McCarthy’s floor managers reversed against adjournment. The floor proceeded to the 15th round of votes to elect the Speaker.
Spread over four days, in the previous 13 rounds – two of which were held earlier in the day–, McCarthy had been opposed by a group of 20 lawmakers from his own party, mostly from the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus.
It was only in the 12th and 13th rounds that more than a dozen of those GOP naysayers switched their votes. But by late Friday night, he was not able to get enough votes.
“Of the more than 50 speakers of the House, 15 have been in McCarthy’s situation: needing multiple elections to win the gavel,” NBC News said, reflecting the historic and unprecedented nature of the election of a House Speaker this year. There have been only four House speaker races that have gone so far in the past.
As Speaker of the House is a powerful position. The speaker is the third in the line of succession after President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
As lawmakers assembled at the House chambers post 10 pm, Congressman Patrick McHenry nominated McCarthy for speaker on a 14th ballot.
“He’s empowered members to come together to find consensus on behalf of conservative policy and a greater involvement of all voices throughout our conference,” he said.
“He’s unflinchingly optimistic…He is relentless. The man does not quit,” McHenry said.
Jefferies was nominated by Democratic Congressman Pete Aguilar. Jeffries, he argued, is “a voice for the people…and this is the people’s house.” He compared the “chaos and crisis” over electing a speaker to the events of January 6 two years ago and suggested electing McCarthy would “set the path toward division and default.” The 118th Congress has five Indian Americans and members of the House of Representatives. They are all from the Democratic Party — Dr Ami Bera, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Ro Khanna, Pramila Jayapal and Shri Thanedar. All of them voted for Jeffries in the 14th round of votes.