15th Time’s the Charm for Kevin McCarthy
After fifteen votes and four days, Kevin McCarthy was elected the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Throughout the long voting process, McCarthy was forced to make several concessions which consequently decreased his power.
Kevin McCarthy began his political career in 2002 by working in the California State Assembly and moved on to represent California’s 22nd District in 2007. While serving in the assembly, McCarthy was known to have national aspirations.
By 2018, he became the House minority speaker and finally became the Speaker of the House in 2023 on a margin of 216-212.
Even though McCarthy was always most likely to win, no one knew how many concessions he would have to make in order to please twenty far-right Republicans. Many of these concessions were made to win the vote of McCarthy’s longtime opponent Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz. McCarthy was seen to approach Gaetz and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert in their seats pleading for them to change their vote. “This ends one of two ways: Either Kevin McCarthy withdraws from the race, or we construct a straitjacket that he is unable to evade,” Gaetz said to CNN.
Among many Representatives that were frustrated with the drama of the vote, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene expressed her opinion that it was shameful. “I have to give props to the Democrats, they find ways to work together. I think we should find ways to work together,” she said to the New York Times.
At one point, Alabama congressman Mike Rogers had to be physically restrained after appearing to lunge at Gaetz. President Biden called the vote “embarassing.” and the 52nd Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said it was “sad.”
Boebert, on the other hand, argued, “This is not chaos. This is a constitutional republic at work. This is actually a really beautiful thing.”
The concessions that McCarthy made ensured true control of the House from hard-right Republicans, making it harder to make agreements with Democrats. Some concessions include a rule that says that “any move to raise the debt ceiling must also be accompanied by spending cuts.” Additionally, a rules package includes “votes on bills relating to key sticking points for conservative lawmakers, including on border security and abortion.” He also agreed to establish a new select subcommittee on the “weaponization” of the federal government and is likely to initiate investigations into the classified documents that were recently found in President Biden’s home and office.
McCarthy made one concession that particularly weakened his own power. Now, any member can call for a motion to vacate the speaker’s chair–making it easier to trigger what is effectively a no-confidence vote in the speaker.
Many have expressed concerns that the legacy of Trump prevails in American politics. “American people will be held captive over the next two years to the extreme MAGA Republican agenda,” said Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries from New York. However, without Trump to lead the Party, there is no specific agenda defined amongst Republicans.
Kiran Yeh is a junior and Law and Society major at Brooklyn Technical High School and a Next Gen Civic Fellow. Kiran is the Managing Editor in her school’s newspaper, The Survey, and has written for other publications previously. She has been involved in political campaigns and is most interested in writing articles regarding politics.