After four days of Republican dysfunction and 15 rounds of voting, the Freedom Caucus paved the way for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Republican son of a firefighter from Bakersfield, Calif., to be elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. The victory came after midnight on Jan. 7.
Alaska freshman Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola, although having made statements to the press that she would help form a bipartisan coalition, voted for radical Queens, N.Y. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democrat nominee, every one of the 15 times her name was called, ensuring that Alaska will be in the minority in Congress, as control switches over to the Republicans.
The final vote went late into Friday night and was filled with shouting, finger-pointing by Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, and drama. In the end, McCarthy received 216 votes, one more than the 215 votes needed to win on that ballot, because six conservative members called the Freedom Caucus simply voted “present.”
The floor proceedings became chaotic at one critical juncture on Friday when a clearly worn-out Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Alabama, angrily burst into a group that centered around Freedom Caucus member Rep. Gaetz and Rep. McCarthy, who were negotiating, surrounded by their supporters. As Rogers lunged in to tell Gaetz what he though of him, Rep. Richard Hudson, R-North Carolina, laid his hands firmly on Rogers’s shoulders and yanked him back, at one point smashing his hand over Rogers’ face and pulling him away forcibly.
Although some members wanted to gavel out until Monday, several key Republicans had at that point asked McCarthy to ask for one more vote. McCarthy asked two of his supporters to return to the Capitol, and Gaetz and five other Freedom Caucus members voted present, allowing McCarthy to win in a tension-filled chambers filled with tired lawmakers.
McCarthy is an ideological moderate who has led the Republican minority for several years. During the most recent midterm elections, he angered some members of the Freedom Caucus wing of the minority by working to unseat them in their House races. He had the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, but that endorsement held no sway with some of the 20-ish members of the Freedom Caucus.
McCarthy, upon being given the gavel by Rep. Jeffries, gave some prepared remarks: “It’s time for us to be a check and provide some balance to the president’s policies. We commit to stop wasteful Washington spending, to lower the price of groceries, gas, cars, housing, and stop the rising national debt.”
But the deal he made to get there with the Freedom Caucus appears to diminish the powers of the Speaker, giving the Freedom Caucus more ability to disrupt the order of business, if they choose. The bad blood between McCarthy and Gaetz makes that appear likely. Former Speaker Pelosi called it “the incredibly shrinking speakership.”
One of the concessions made by McCarthy is to allow any member to call for an immediate vote at any time to oust the speaker, which McCarthy earlier viewed as simply a political death warrant.
