After a fourth vote, Republican candidate Kevin McCarthy, the big favorite for Speaker of the House, still fails to win a majority.
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HAShen the Republicans have a narrow majority in the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, the party’s candidate for Speaker of the House, failed again on Wednesday January 4 to be elected Speaker of the House, or “speaker”, after a recess and a fourth vote. An extremely rare fact, which is explained by the opposition of about twenty elected Trumpists judging McCarthy too centrist. Donald Trump has however called on them to line up behind McCarthy’s candidacy.
Members of the most conservative fringe of the party, these elected officials take advantage of the very thin Republican majority won in the mid-term elections in November to set their conditions. Without their support, Kevin McCarthy cannot be elected. America wants “a new face, a new vision, a new leadership”, argued the turbulent elected representative of Texas, Chip Roy.READ ALSOMidterms: in Georgia, the confrontation of the pastor and the footballer
An “embarrassing” situation, judge Joe Biden
Kevin McCarthy, a member of the Republican general staff for more than 10 years, has already acceded to many of this group’s demands, without this breaking the deadlock. Worse, opposition to his candidacy seemed to crystallize.
Democratic President Joe Biden called this situation “embarrassing”, assuring that “the rest of the world” was following this mess closely. Among the non-refractory elected Republicans and by a large majority, annoyance was beginning to be felt, giving rise to very lively debates in the hemicycle. “It all seems messy,” conceded elected official Mike Gallagher, a close friend of Kevin McCarthy.
On Wednesday morning, former President Donald Trump came out of the woodwork, calling on his social network for his party to do everything to “avoid an embarrassing defeat”. “Now is the time for our top Republicans in the House to vote for Kevin” McCarthy, who will do “a good job, and maybe even a great job”. But the former president, whose reputation as a kingmaker has been seriously questioned, has also failed to convince this conservative group to toe the line.READ ALSOStephen Marche: “Trump is a monster, there will be others”
The election of the “speaker”, the third most important figure in American politics after the president and the vice-president, requires a majority of 218 votes. In the first four rounds, Kevin McCarthy failed to exceed 203. This situation also completely paralyzes the rest of the institution: without a president, elected officials cannot take the oath, and therefore pass any bill. . Republicans also cannot open the numerous investigations they had promised against Joe Biden.