[Photo credits to Pixabay]

On January 7th 2023, after fifteen rounds of voting, the 118th US Congress elected Kevin Owen McCarthy as the 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. 

McCarthy’s election for Speaker was tumultuous, with it taking fifteen rounds of voting for McCarthy to gain a majority vote. 

This was the longest vacancy and contest for Speaker the United States has had for 164 years, since the Civil War. 

McCarthy narrowly won the Speakership with 216 votes voting for him, 212 votes for House Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries, and six members voting “present.”

However, in order to achieve this, McCarthy had to make several concessions to the conservative members within his own party that voted against him. 

McCarthy and his team had to entertain several rounds of negotiations with the Freedom Caucus, which included ultraconservative lawmakers. 

The Freedom Caucus believed that McCarthy wasn’t powerful enough to stand up to the Biden administration. 

Hence, to reach these votes, McCarthy had to make several concessions towards the Caucus members. 

While full details of the concessions McCarthy made to the representatives are not fully known, there have been reports on these concessions.

These concessions included one single member being able to call a motion for a non-confidence vote for the Speaker.

Another important concession was for more Freedom Caucus members to be installed on important House committees such as the ​​House Rules Committee.

Additionally, another key concession McCarthy promised these ‘rebel’ Republicans was that representatives would have at least 72 hours to review legislation before voting could commence. 

Shortly after McCarthy’s confirmation as Speaker, President Biden congratulated McCarthy, stating that he was ready to work with the Republicans when he could. 

However, other leading Democratic members such as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had a more negative tone on the election of McCarthy as Speaker. 

Schumer stated that McCarthy, in order to receive the votes needed to become Speaker, surrendered to the demands of radical conservatives within his own party. 

Other Democrat members such as Representative Cori Bush stated on Twitter that McCarthy had “sold out his gavel like he sold out our democracy—to white supremacist insurrectionists.”  

After McCarthy’s victory was confirmed and sworn in, McCarthy thanked former US President Donald Trump for his support stating that nobody “should doubt his influence” on Republicans. 

Other Republicans such as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated McCarthy,  tweeting his congratulations. 

McConnell also wrote that Senate Republicans were ready to work with House Republicans in order to limit the influence of Washington Democrats and to ‘defend America’.

As Speaker, McCarthy’s first official role was to swear in the members of the 118th Congress and to pass a new set of rules that the Freedom Caucus had a large part in creating. 

Looking at the frail nature of the Republican Party, it is clear that Washington Republicans will need to learn to work together as one, in order to achieve their vision of a more united country. 

Speaker McCarthy has a large job ahead of him in uniting this fragile party, while serving out the oath these members took, in preserving the Constitution and defending American democracy.