- In the 15th round for the election of the chairman of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy achieved a majority.
- In the roll-call vote, McCarthy got 216 votes and Hakeem Jeffries got 212. Two votes went to Republican Andy Biggs and two to Republican Jim Jordan.
- This resulted from the result of the oral vote on Saturday night (local time), which was formally confirmed by the head of the session in the parliamentary chamber.
In the historically long power struggle for the top office in the US Parliament, the 14th round of voting became very dramatic. McCarthy was just one vote short of victory on Saturday night. But his fiercest opponents allowed him to appear in the plenary chamber at the last minute, despite desperate attempts to negotiate.
In previous elections, up to 20 deputies on the right-hand edge refused to support him and voted for other candidates.
He had previously negotiated behind the scenes with his opponents and apparently made new, far-reaching concessions. The Republican had already made a lot of concessions to the radical members of parliament beforehand, making himself open to blackmail.
Vote adjourned
After the unsuccessful elections, the US House of Representatives suspended the election of a chairman after a regulatory motion. On Friday afternoon (local time) in Washington, MPs voted 220 votes to 212 in favor of a postponement and will not meet again until late in the evening at 10 p.m. (local time, 4 a.m. CET).
Kevin McCarthy told the US media that he was optimistic that he would win his opponents within the party by the evening. On Friday there was movement in the voting for the first time – 14 opponents of McCarthy gave up their resistance and McCarthy is now only a few votes missing for the required simple majority.
Kevin McCarthy expressed his confidence: “I will have the votes,” he told CNN when asked if he could still win over two renegade Congressmen Matt Rosendale (Montana) and Eli Crane (Arizona). “I believe we will have the votes to end this once and for all.”
Until the chairman is elected, nothing happens in the House of Representatives; not even the new MPs can be sworn in.
Power struggle diminishes support
Among other things, the radical MPs, who are largely ardent supporters of former President Donald Trump, are calling for internal rules of procedure in Congress to be changed. With this adjustment, their power in Parliament would be strengthened.
The fact that the 57-year-old MP from the US state of California has now managed to win opponents over to his side should calm the critical voices for the time being.
historical process
The current vote for the top job is already one of the longest in US history. It hasn’t taken so many tries for members of the House of Representatives to elect a new leader in 164 years.
The last time there were more ballots was only in 1859/1860. At that time, Republican William Pennington was only elected Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 44th ballot. The election process lasted several weeks.