The US House of Representatives adjourned the election of a chairman on Tuesday after three failed ballots. Republican Kevin McCarthy repeatedly failed to garner a simple majority of 218 votes. Up to 20 MPs from his own party voted against McCarthy in the three rounds of voting.
It was the first time in a hundred years that the inaugural session of the Chamber of Congress ended without an election of a chairman. McCarthy wants to succeed Democrat Nancy Pelosi. But some representatives of ex-President Donald Trump’s party refuse to support McCarthy.
After the parliamentary elections in November, the Congress met for the first time on Tuesday in a new constellation. The Republicans took control of the House of Representatives – in the Senate, President Joe Biden’s Democrats still have a narrow majority. The Republicans’ bitter internal struggle for leadership in the House of Representatives has been raging for weeks. But now things turned out worse than expected for McCarthy.
The post of chairman of the chamber, which has been held by Democrat Nancy Pelosi in recent years, ranks third in the national ranking after the president and his vice president. Usually the choice is a formality.
But several party colleagues rebelled against McCarthy and had already made it clear before the election that they did not want to vote for McCarthy. He made a number of concessions to his opponents, because in view of the slim majority of Republicans in the chamber, he is dependent on almost every vote.
Public exposure
For McCarthy, his defeat in the elections is a public exposure that also shows the inner turmoil of the party. It has been a hundred years since a candidate for the House of Representatives vote did not win the necessary majority on the first ballot: in 1923 it took nine ballots to choose a leader. Back then it took several days.
At first it was unclear how many more votes would be needed to elect a new chair for the parliamentary chamber. It was also unclear whether the election would last several days. Each ballot is lengthy because all MPs are called up individually to nominate their preferred candidate.
The election of the chairman is the first major act of a newly elected House of Representatives. And until the presidency is clarified, nothing works: the Congress Chamber cannot start its work, not even the new MPs can be sworn in.
McCarthy only got 203 of 434 votes cast in the first and second round in the oral vote – he would have needed 218. 19 party colleagues refused to vote for him in both attempts. It had previously been expected that a good dozen party colleagues would not support him. In the third ballot he lost another vote from his own ranks.
After the first ballot, Republican Congressman Jim Jordan nominated McCarthy for the second attempt and urged his party colleagues to close ranks. But then immediately afterwards one of McCarthy’s toughest opponents, MP Matt Gaetz, struck out – and nominated Jordan of all people. Jordan is a stalwart of ex-President Donald Trump and eventually rallied all 19 dissenters behind him in the second round.
McCarthy was previously combative
McCarthy had been combative just before the session and said: “I hold the record for the longest speech in the plenary session.” He has no problem setting a record for the most ballots in a vote for the presidency in the House of Representatives.
Even if McCarthy prevails in the end, he will emerge weakened from the tussle and will face some difficulties organizing majorities in the Congress Chamber for years to come.
McCarthy revealed on Tuesday, visibly annoyed, that he was told on Monday that he would only get the necessary votes if he gave certain positions and budgets to certain members of the group. His opponent Gaetz even said bluntly that he didn’t care if, in case of doubt, the Democratic candidate won the election. According to McCarthy, his opponents are only concerned with personal advancement, not with the country. There might be a “battle” in the plenary session of the chamber, but it’s about the whole faction and the country, “and that’s OK with me”.
The Republican faction in the House of Representatives, like the party as a whole, is torn between right-wing supporters of Trump and more moderate party members. Faced with a slim majority, McCarthy must unite the various wings behind him and even recruit members from the very fringes of his faction to become leader. The Democrats have no chance of appointing the chairman on their own because they are the smaller faction in the chamber. (dpa, AFP)
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