Kevin McCarthy becomes Speaker of the US House of Representatives on the 15th round of voting

Republican leader Kevin McCarthy elected to the US House of Representatives on his 15th attempt after four days of wrangling and 14 failed ballots, the longest House inactivity in more than a century. Reuters and CNBS.

McCarthy’s lead in the last round of voting was minimal: the Republican received 216 votes, and his Democratic opponent Hakim Jeffreys – 211. His victory was only possible because five members of his own party abstained from voting.

According to Reuters, McCarthy was forced to make significant concessions to his own party members, who are supporters of a “harder line” and opposed his leadership from the beginning. In particular, we are talking about the requirement to allow any legislator to demand his removal at any time, which will drastically reduce his ability to work on major bills. The concessions that McCarthy was forced to make are related to the weaker-than-expected results of the Republicans in the midterm elections.

McCarthy’s predecessor as Speaker of the House of Representatives was Democrat Nancy Pelosi, who became an MP back in 1987. She served as Speaker from 2007 to 2011, becoming the first woman in US history to hold this post. In 2019, she was re-elected to the same position.

On November 8, mid-term elections were held in the United States, during which the entire Congress and a third of the Senate were re-elected. In addition, gubernatorial elections were held in 36 states out of 50. As a result of the vote, the Republicans gained control of the lower house of Congress, gaining 222 votes. At the same time, the Democrats retained the leading position in the Senate, gaining 50 votes against 49 from the Republicans.