For the first time in a hundred years, more than one vote is needed to elect the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Republican majority following the November 8 midterm elections was split this Tuesday, and California’s Kevin McCarthy initially failed to win the election. He needed 218 votes — Republicans have 222 representatives — and got just 203. And he saw Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York get even more votes: of all 212 Democrats.
The second poll ended the same way. Voting is allowed until a candidate has obtained the required majority of 218 votes. McCarthy, 57, vowed not to give up. Until there is a leader of the House of Representatives (speaker), the rest of the work is suspended, that is, no new members will be sworn in, new rules passed, or legislation introduced. In 1923, the last time a candidate failed to get the majority of votes needed to be elected the first time, it took nine ballots and several days. Massachusetts Republican Frederick Gillett would eventually be re-elected.
After withdrawing from the race to speaker in 2015 due to an uprising from the right wing of the party (Paul Ryan would be elected), McCarthy led the Republican minority as of 2019. He emerges as the best placed to reach the second most important position in the political succession — behind only Vice President Kamala Harris — but there is much that is not consensual and is drawing criticism from former President Donald Trump’s staunchest supporters.
At the start, before the first ballot, six Republicans said they would not vote for him. But after calling everyone present, 19 ultimately didn’t say their names (ten of them chose Andy Biggs of Arizona, and another six voted for Jim Jordan, while others received a single vote). For the second ballot, Jordan threw his support behind McCarthy, but even if his six supporters changed their vote, it wouldn’t be enough. And Biggs has supported Jordan. On the second ballot, the same 19 voted against, all Jordan.
McCarthy, who hopes to succeed Democrat Nancy Pelosi as speaker, has made concessions to the party’s right wing, namely allowing a vote to remove him from office at any time or promising to halt all legislation coming from the Republican senators who passed the 1, $7 billion from President Joe Biden for Christmas. The problem is that the more you give in to the right, the more you risk losing center and exposing divisions in the Republican party.
Source: DN
