Republican Kevin McCarthy achieved his long-held ambition to become House speaker early on Friday after quelling a rebellion by conservative GOP hardliners, but at the cost of further weakening his precarious position in a deeply divided party.
After the longest series of speaker ballots since 1859, McCarthy had 216 votes in the final tally, enough to be elected to the position of second in line for president, with six votes “now.” Democrats unanimously voted for their leader, New York Representative Hakeem Jeffries.
The ongoing deadlock between Republicans and hardline conservatives took 15 votes over four days to resolve. And it previews more chaos ahead on political challenges to come this year, including raising the US debt ceiling and funding the government.
The final vote was preceded by a dramatic moment on the House floor as the Republican battle escalated into shouting matches and physical confrontations. After McCarthy was blocked on the 14th ballot, a stunning and humiliating defeat, he walked quickly to the back of the House chamber and confronted Florida’s Matt Gaetz, one of his loudest critics.
Gaetz had chosen to vote until the end, when it would be decisive. He then voted “now” which has left McCarthy with only victory. McCarthy ally Mike Rogers stormed Gaetz and started to say something but was stopped by Representative Richard Hudson.
Gaetz appeared to accuse McCarthy of something and pointing the finger at him. McCarthy ends up leaving, confused, without the necessary votes, as a shocked House sees what’s going on.
Donald Trump, whose previous endorsement of McCarthy failed to sway his opponents, made a pitch last minute. Colorado Republican Ken Buck said the former president has called for members on the floor.
Until the speaker is elected, the DPR cannot conduct other business and there are no rules governing the day-to-day operations of the 434 DPR members and their staff. After the vote on Friday morning, back and newly elected members of parliament were finally sworn in and prepared to vote for a package of rules that outlines how the House will function.
McCarthy, Republican of California, won after days of intense negotiations and several humiliating defeats. He has to give up a lot of power, promising to roll back procedural changes that have empowered dissidents, including the ability for a single Republican to force a House vote to remove him as speaker.
He also rejected requests from fiscal conservatives to use the federal debt ceiling as a bargaining chip to force spending cuts and limit government spending in fiscal year 2024 at the 2022 level, which would mean significant cuts to many programs. Both add to the market’s risk of a rattling contest with the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Joe Biden.
McCarthy’s bid for the speaker’s hammer has been in trouble since the election, in which the GOP fell well short of the expectations of the so-called red wave that would give a solid majority in both the House and the Senate.
He won the House, but there was a struggle for the direction of the party played out most vividly. Republicans are divided between members of swing districts who need to court independent voters and hard-line conservatives with safe seats who have adopted Trump’s populist agenda.
Perhaps the most important concession McCarthy made was a rule change that allowed disgruntled Republicans to begin voting to remove him at any time.
The tide began to turn in McCarthy’s favor as he and his dissidents finalized the contours of the deal, with 15 holdovers switching votes to support him in the 12th round of voting on Friday.
McCarthy said he expected the speakership to go through several rounds as the ultra-conservative faction pressed for more demands. He vowed never to back down.
“I have no problem getting the record for the most votes for a speaker,” he said before the election began.
McCarthy will have to wait for two supporters to return to the Capitol for a vote on Friday. Incoming Representative Wesley Hunt of Texas left to meet the newborn and Representative Ken Buck of Colorado left Thursday due to medical issues.
This is the second time McCarthy has blocked the road to get a speaker. When Ohio Republican John Boehner left as speaker and resigned from the House in 2015 after dealing with a rebellion by conservative Republicans, McCarthy, who was first elected to the House in 2012, was widely seen as the favorite to replace him. But he backed down in the face of opposition from the conservative faction.
McCarthy, 57, spent much of the last year trying to win over the conservative faction that has a list of grievances about the rules of the House, anger over the compromise with the Democrats and the lack of confidence in the claim of the Californian for conservative verification.
Arizona Representative Andy Biggs, one of the leaders of the rebellion, said earlier this week that McCarthy “has a history that is unacceptable to some people.” He voted against McCarthy in the 14th round but moved to “now” in the 15th and last.
Like most House speakers, McCarthy entered the job with a vast fundraising network. He raised nearly $26.5 million last cycle, more than any other member of the House of Representatives. And the McCarthy-aligned Congressional Leadership Fund Super PAC raised nearly $260 million. Of the 20 hardliners who opposed McCarthy in the first 11 ballots for the speakership, 14 of the holdouts received some of the largess of McCarthy’s funds.
But notably, some of McCarthy’s staunchest detractors — including Representatives Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Matt Gaetz of Florida — do not receive funding from McCarthy’s PAC.
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