The Archive

Kevin Owen McCarthy is the new speaker of the House.

It was anything but pretty.

McCarthy faced the ultimate irony of having Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Bob Good (R-Va.) and Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) – some of the staunchest critics of the California Republican – as the ones who finally got him over the top. And they only did so by voting present rather than voting for McCarthy, which lowered the number he needed to win.

The final tally on the 15th roll-call vote was 216 for McCarthy, 212 for Democrat Hakeem Jeffries and six present.

The 14th roll-call vote – the penultimate tally – was filled with enormous drama. Gaetz voted present, despite furious lobbying from McCarthy allies in the moments leading up to his announcement.

But that decision infuriated Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), leading Rep. Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) to physically intervene as Rogers screamed at Gaetz. McCarthy had strode over to Gaetz in full view of the House and the American public watching on TV, pleading for his vote, only to be rebuffed. The normally affable McCarthy was visibly angry as he strode away.

As that confrontation unfolded, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) dialed up former President Donald Trump and tried to force Rep. Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.), a GOP holdout, to talk to him. Rosendale angrily shouted at Greene, “Don’t you ever do me like that!” Trump did talk to Gaetz and Biggs after the failed vote. C-Span also showed Biggs and Rep.-elect Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) speaking to McCarthy on the floor.

Republicans then tried to adjourn for the weekend after the stunning failure of the 14th roll-call vote. But McCarthy suddenly implored lawmakers to change their votes once it was clear that the California Republican could win.

Just a few days ago, it seemed highly improbable Mcarthy would become speaker. But McCarthy slogged through 15 roll-call votes by members – the most in more than a century – in order to win the gavel.

McCarthy becomes the 55th lawmaker to serve as speaker, cementing the longtime political junkie in the nation’s history.

McCarthy, a 57-year-old native of Bakersfield, Calif., flipped 20 votes in one day to resuscitate his failing campaign for the chamber’s top post.

The victory was one of the most improbable Capitol Hill feats we’ve seen, a journey that lasted more than seven years and included an extraordinary number of twists and turns. McCarthy was on the verge of being speaker in 2015, only to face conservative opposition then as well. It took him until now to get back to this spot.

The drama became even more intense two months ago, thanks to the GOP’s dramatic underperformance in the midterm elections. House Republicans won a majority, but it was the slimmest in decades. This gave McCarthy’s conservative critics enormous leverage over his political future, with a handful intent on blocking him from ever getting to be speaker.

McCarthy may have significantly weakened his ability to govern en route to the speaker’s chair, empowering conservatives with plum committee assignments, new budgetary restrictions and the ability for one member to call a vote to boot him from the speakership.

In other words, the price McCarthy paid for this power has not been fully accounted for yet.

But McCarthy’s theory has long been that putting people at the decision-making table gives them buy-in to the governing process and makes it harder for them to oppose the agenda.

At the end of the day, McCarthy flipped the following GOP lawmakers:

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On the 12th ballot: Reps. Dan Bishop (N.C.), Michael Cloud (Texas), Andrew Clyde (Ga.), Byron Donalds (Fla.), Paul Gosar (Ariz.), Mary Miller (Ill.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Scott Perry (Pa.), Chip Roy (Texas) and Victoria Spartz (Ind.), along with Reps.-elect Josh Brecheen (Okla.), Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.), Andy Ogles (Tenn.) and Keith Self (Texas).

→	On the 13th ballot: Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) flipped to yes. He is likely to get the agriculture subcommittee gavel for the Appropriations panel.

→	On the 14th ballot: Gaetz and Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) voted present. That combined with Biggs, Good, Rosendale and Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) all voting for someone else again denied McCarthy the gavel.

→	On the 15th ballot: Biggs, Crane, Good and Rosendale flipped their votes to present, delivering McCarthy the speakership.

The challenges that McCarthy will face as speaker are too numerous to list here. He’ll have to manage a razor-thin majority hungry for investigations and eager to slash the federal budget.

During the next year, McCarthy will need to raise the debt limit and fund the government – both major fights with massive implications for the U.S. economy.

And McCarthy will face pressure from the Biden administration to fund the war in Ukraine, but will have a conference brimming with doubters about U.S. intervention in the conflict.

Still, regardless of the headwinds he faces, McCarthy’s ascent is relatively stunning.

McCarthy first came to Congress in 2007, replacing retiring Ways and Means Committee Chair Bill Thomas, his former boss.

By 2009, McCarthy was the chief deputy whip to former Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), the minority whip at that time. And in 2010, John Boehner tapped McCarthy to help draft the Commitment to America, an election-season treatise about what Republicans would do if they took back the House.

But the road wasn’t always smooth for McCarthy. In 2015, after Boehner resigned from the speakership, McCarthy had to pull out of a race for the gavel, dogged by accusations that he wasn’t conservative enough and was ill-prepared for the job.

McCarthy bided his time as majority leader under former Speaker Paul Ryan. It was then that he formed a career-shaping alliance with Donald Trump. Trump gave McCarthy political coin during his presidency. And McCarthy rescued Trump’s image after the deadly Jan. 6 attack.

McCarthy’s leadership team will need to work hand in glove to keep the chamber in control over the next two years. McCarthy’s No. 2, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, will be a critical partner.

The two men have a long history together. Scalise and McCarthy have known each other since their days as College Republicans during the Reagan Revolution. McCarthy attended Scalise’s swearing-in to the state house in Baton Rouge in Jan. 2008. Later, when the GOP whip job became open, McCarthy sat on the sidelines, effectively allowing Scalise to top former Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.). Roskam was McCarthy’s close ally.

But McCarthy and Scalise have long warily eyed each other and there’s a significant amount of paranoia inside both of their orbits over what the other man is up to. They hugged heartily after McCarthy won the speakership.

McCarthy would have never reached this post without the help of his close-knit circle of friends, allies and advisers. A coterie of GOP lawmakers helped cut the deal with conservatives that delivered him the votes that he needed. That group included Reps. Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Garret Graves (La.), Guy Reschenthaler (Pa.), Jim Jordan (Ohio), French Hill (Ark.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Tom Cole (Okla.), Bruce Westerman (Ark.) and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer.

What a week. Buckle up for the 118th Congress.

– Jake Sherman, John Bresnahan and Heather Caygle

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