Kevin McCarthy voted US Speaker of the House in 15th vote after a week of voting

butterscotch · 7 January 2023 06:27

After a week of voting that kept the House unproductive, Kevin McCarthy was voted US Speaker of the House after the 15th vote.

The day’s stunning turn of events came after McCarthy agreed to many of the detractors’ demands – including the reinstatement of a longstanding House rule that would allow any single member to call a vote to oust him from office.

Even if McCarthy is able to secure the votes he needs, he will emerge as a weakened speaker, having given away some powers and constantly under the threat of being booted by his detractors.

But he could also be emboldened as a survivor of one of the more brutal fights for the gavel in U.S. history. Not since the Civil War era has a speaker’s vote dragged through so many rounds of voting.

Without a speaker, the chamber is unable swear in members and begin its 2023-24 session, a sign of the difficulty ahead for the new Republican majority as it tries to govern.

Electing a speaker is normally an easy, joyous task for a party that has just won majority control. But not this time: About 200 Republicans have been stymied by 20 far-right colleagues who said he’s not conservative enough.

The disorganized start to the new Congress pointed to difficulties ahead with Republicans now in control of the House, much the way that some past Republican speakers, including John Boehner, had trouble leading a rebellious right flank. The result: government shutdowns, standoffs and Boehner’s early retirement when conservatives threatened to oust him.

Bruce · 7 January 2023 06:34

Will there be another purge on communists now that McCarthyism is back?

butterscotch · 7 January 2023 07:04

spitfire · 7 January 2023 07:21

Bet it was a bit like Brexit, everyone got fed up with deliberating so the need to bring a situation to a conclusion was the deciding factor, happens a lot.

strathmore · 7 January 2023 09:10

It seemed a lot like Brexit in other ways. A tiny minority of republican representatives tried to block the proposed speaker because he was not right wing enough for them. Even though the majority of people voting republican returned republican representatives who were not so right wing. So they ignored the wishes of the majority and tried to push through their own minority agenda.

Bruce · 7 January 2023 09:17

Did the Democrats vote for this speaker? Seems a missed opportunity for a spoiler vote if they didn’t, they could have voted for the most right wing or outlandish candidate in the Republican ballot and perhaps elected the candidate no one expected (assuming the vote was close - I am sure that they said the there was one vote in it on the 14th ballot but perhaps that is not how it works).

American voting is weird if they can deadlock themselves.